The Harbour at Portland has been under the control of the Portland Harbour Authority Ltd since the MOD's withdrawal from the dockyard. The Harbour Authority has redeveloped the superb protected waters into a commercial port, which is also used for leisure activities. The project included the installation of Automatic Barriers at the Port's car parks, which the Harbour Authority approached Frontier Pitts to supply and install in order to control traffic. The Port's requirements included allowing ease of access for the staff members whilst ensuring visitors are identified.
As a result, the company's market-leading FBX Automatic Barrier is ideally suited for controlling constant access to and from the car park of the 6700-acre man-made warm-water harbour.
On entry and exit staff use a card reader system to operate the barriers. Visitors report to the guard lodge via the visitor lane. Once a visitor is identified they are issued with a windscreen identification pass and the barrier is operated from the guardhouse. A vehicle induction loop system has been installed into the road surface to ensure the boom lowers safely once the vehicle has passed.
The FBX Automatic Barrier is manufactured in boom lengths up to six metres, up to five metres for booms with skirts, and each boom can be fitted with warning lights and signs to the customer's specification. The FBX is able to be raised or lowered through a complete 90-degree arc in as little as 1.8 seconds, depending on boom length, with operation being instantly reversible.
The FBX is designed for reliability and durability, featuring sealed-for-life, no-maintenance bearings on the drive shaft; while both barriers and control cabinet are supplied with a 20-year protective alkyd paint finish as standard.
The Automatic Barriers which are installed at Portland Harbour Authority have been manufactured with lower folding skirts, pogo-stick end rests and a traffic light system. Other accessories available for FBX Automatic Barrier include a variety of warning signs, lights, articulated boom, over-ride key switch, magnetic locks for the end-rest, with a choice of 'pogo stick' or fixed end-rests.
The FBX Automatic Barrier, as with all Frontier-Pitts products, is entirely designed and built in Britain to the most stringent international standards.