The attack on the USS Cole in October 2000 while it was docked in Yemen accelerated the U.S. Navy barrier program and prompted the Navy to aggressively provide additional protection to its ships and other assets.
In 2004, Harbor Offshore Barriers Inc. (HOBI) was founded to install maritime security barriers for the U.S. Navy. The company applied and was awarded an exclusive license for the unique barrier technology originally engineered by the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) at Port Hueneme, California.
HOBI produces two types of barrier systems referred to as Port Security Barrier (PSB) designed by NFESC and Fixed Security Barrier (FSB) designed by Harbor Offshore Inc. The systems range from maximum security (the PSB 5500 system) to high-level security (the PSB 1300) to mid-level security (PSB 600), with the PSB 5500 able to stop more than 9 million lbs. of force and the PSB 600 exceeding 1 million foot-pounds of energy. For example, a 4-ton boat traveling at 60 knots (69 miles per hour) will generate slightly over 1.2 million foot-pounds of energy. Much larger vessels going at a slower rate may generate the same amount of energy. The HOBI barrier systems are designed stop a wide variety of commercial and recreational vessels.
From the surface, the PSB systems looks much like a series of tennis nets sitting on cylindrical-shaped floats that fastened together to form a type of floating fence, while the FSB system is comprised of a special purpose net that is secured to piling, platforms and/or a variety of marine structures.
With both systems, when the nylon or steel nets encounter an impact, such as a speeding boat, it stretches to absorb the energy of the impact. The steel nets are further supported by additional elements in the technology called break rings that absorb the energy as well. All impacts into the nylon or steel nets are transmitted to an anchoring system that secures the entire structure to the ocean floor.
The primary purpose of the nets is to stop the boat. The barriers are a visual deterrent in that they don't hide potential intruders, and they are designed for all environments. The barriers are even practical for the potential wayward boater in that they keep recreational boaters away from protected assets without destroying the boat or inflicting serious injury to the occupants.
In July of 2004, the Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT) center in San Diego awarded HOBI a market study. "The market research work that CCAT did confirm, almost to the letter, what I had discovered (in working with clients)," said Tom Pruitt, HOBI's director of sales. "It affirmed that we were on the right path, talking to the right people, and going to the right places. It gave me a lot of confidence that I wasn't just spinning my wheels."
Although naval vessels are a primary threat target, many of security threats are not focused necessarily on ships in port. These include liquid natural gas facilities, bridges, water intakes for desalinization plants and naval facilities - all of which pose attractive targets for potential terrorists. "The risk of loss from a successful terrorist attack on a major natural liquid gas or oil producing platform or refinery is enormous in terms of its economic and political value," said Pruitt. "We're talking about numbers in the many billions of dollars and that risk is substantial in terms of both its possibility and its value." While HOBI does a brisk business on U.S. shores, much of HOBI's business of this nature is concentrated in the Middle East and in Europe.
In addition to the U.S. Navy, other clients include the French defense contractor, DCN, who completed an installation in Brest, France around a nuclear submarine base in July, 2007.
For more information, please contact:
Tom Sheffer, CCAT Program Director
SDSU Research Foundation
E-mail: tsheffer@foundation.sdsu.edu
Phone: (619) 594-4135 / Fax: (619) 594-5774