Site visit to Shoreham Port

Shoreham Port is located on the South Coast of England in Brighton and provides a Marine Service for all its customers. The port receives deliveries from all around the world, but especially a lot from Europe. To handle the cargo's goods as quickly and efficiently as possible, the ports staff offers a stevedoring service with a highly modern stock level system.

As a long-term customer the harbour is owner of more than just one VEGA sensor and therefore the staff offered us an insight into the port and explained us for which applications they make use of our sensors.

Shoreham Port, for years, has made use of a couple of VEGA sensors. The arriving ships must be able to dock in the port and consequently a certain water level is required, otherwise the vessels could be damaged or grounded due to a low water level. The first level in the main port is an ultrasonic sensor, which was installed 15 years ago. The VEGASON ultrasonic sensor measures the water level in the harbour. To protect the sensor from weather impact, such as temperatures variations, it is installed inside a cabin inside a stilling tube to get a measurement result, which is as accurate and reliable as possible.

There are also radars in the dry-dock which is used for ship repairs: If the staff would like to work in the dock, the water must be pumped out and the dry-dock monitored for leaks to ensure safety while people are working down in there. Furthermore the water level in the harbour locks must also be measured, as well. Before the gates can open, the water inside and outside the gates must be at the same level, because if the water is not at the same height, the pressure which acts on the gates is then too big and therefore the hydraulic opening systems can be damaged and of course that would cause huge costs. For this application a VEGAPULS WLS 61 is in use. This sensor still delivers reliable measuring results, even if the gates are opened for arriving vessels or if there are hard weather conditions- even existing seaweed or foam on the water surface is no problem for this sensor and the measurement can take place as always and the level is measured correctly.

To sum up, in such huge harbours as Shoreham Port, which is 3Km long, it is very important that the water level is monitored accurate and reliable, so that the daily operation within the port doesn’t have to be interrupted due to damages, for instance. VEGA sensors are the perfect solution for such a challenging application.