The Port of Wilmington, which opened in 1923 and handles nearly 400 vessels and 4 million tons of cargo each year is the busiest port on the Delaware River, and the leading North American importation site for fresh fruit, bananas and juice concentrate. It was also the first seaport to use the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) card, beginning with the TWIC Technology Phase pilot program in October 2003. TWIC is designed to add a layer of security at ports by ensuring that workers in secure areas have received a background check and do not pose a national security threat.
As the TWIC program expanded as part of the Maritime Security (MARSEC) criteria, so did the need for a software program that could read and record information from both the existing TWIC protype cards used with the port’s physical access control system and the latest TWIC cards. In addition, it was important to find a solution that would allow the port to access the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ‘TWIC Cancelled Card List’, a real-time database of unauthorised TWIC users, so port security personnel can quickly identify those with revoked rights.
