MOBOTIX Cameras Secure And Monitor Fruit Juice Processing For Louis Dreyfus Commodities Belgium

MOBOTIX cameras will supervise production, storage, processing, transhipment and transport

Louis Dreyfus Commodities Belgium NV is part of the Louis Dreyfus Commodities group, world leader in the agricultural commodities trade. The company imports Frozen Concentrate Orange Juice and Not From Concentrate Orange Juice from Brazil to its terminal at Alphonse Sifferkaai in the Ghent harbor.

The juice is transferred through pipelines from the vessels to the Louis Dreyfus cooling tanks. The juice is then processed and distributed throughout Europe. The cooling tanks storing the juice have a capacity of 70,000 tons, at a temperature of minus 8 degrees Celsius. The vats used for juice transport are kept at a temperature of minus 18 degrees Celsius. Personnel at Louis Dreyfus in Ghent take care of storage, vat filling, and loading tanker trucks for customers.

From Ghent, the vats travel in refrigerated trucks to fruit juice processing plants throughout Europe. Approximately one vessel per month docks at the company's quay.

Supervising Production And Transport

"To improve the supervision of production, juice storage, processing, transhipment and transport, we advised Dreyfus to install high-resolution digital cameras at their site in Ghent," says Wauter Muys, Business Development Manager at Connexgroup - ETAC Gent, a company which specializes in security systems. "We proposed a comprehensive MOBOTIX solution consisting of 50 cameras and the MxControlCenter, the advanced video management system of MOBOTIX."

"It was a challenging project. The low temperatures require specially adapted wiring. Outside, we fitted lightning-proof wiring. We also needed to get all cameras onto a single network, taking into account the various harbor regulations. The result is that the length of cabling running through the company measures 5 km. Fortunately, we already knew the site, which meant that we could deliver the job in two weeks."

50 Cameras Guard The Site

The food industry is a sensitive sector that requires a high degree of security. That is why the fruit juice processing plant Dreyfus in Ghent was fitted with 50 MOBOTIX cameras, including the DualDome, a hemispheric camera with a 360° allround view, the AllroundDual and the Allround. The entire site has been equipped with security cameras, not only to guarantee food safety, but also for the safety of personnel, to prevent break-ins, and detect potential fires. "Cameras were already present on site, but only for the purpose of fire and break-in prevention. We have reused a few of those cameras," tells Wauter Muys.

The quay and harbor crane where the ships dock have been fitted with cameras which provide an overview of what happens during loading and unloading. The juice is pumped into the pipelines beneath the quay. The long narrow tunnels which house the pipelines are monitored by cameras that are capable of functioning in specific lighting conditions, such as neon, without flickering. Since the tunnels have been fitted with cameras, Dreyfus staff are no longer required to continually walk through them to check the pipelines, but instead can monitor the situation from a distance. The truck loading process is also watched and the cameras record which trucks drive in and out. The detailed resolution even allows them to recognize people and vehicle registration plates.

Monitoring Equipment

MOBOTIX cameras used for monitoring freezer pumps and the water treatment equipment have also been installed. The 5-megapixel D15 Dual Night camera, a day and night camera with powerful zooming capacity, was selected for the surveillance of the water treatment equipment. This camera is independently capable to distinguish between relevant and non-relevant movement, so as to significantly reduce the number of false alarms.

"If there is too much foaming in the water treatment equipment, the foam can spill over onto the drum. Our staff can now monitor permanently this from the control room," says Bernard De Grove, Procurement Officer at Louis Dreyfus Commodities Belgium NV. The freezer pumps are also monitored with MOBOTIX cameras. The movement detection is set to a high level of sensitivity. "As soon as a movement is detected it is registered by the cameras. The operators are able to monitor the entire surface of the large site from the control room through the use of the cameras," says Mr. De Grove.