Ahigh-tech company in Port Moody that designs and builds night-vision marine cameras may soon have a new market: container ships navigating through the Japanese tsunami debris.
James Nicholas of Current Corporation said his Murray Street firm is working with the University of Hawaii to monitor the garbage that's floating from the disaster that struck the Asian island country on March 11, 2011.
"Our cameras would be ideal for ships to avoid the huge piles that are travelling in the Pacific Ocean from Japan," he said, "as this is a major safety concern along shipping routes right now."
Already, the boutique company has carved quite a niche in the industry, supplying its Night Navigator machines for yachts as well as for super ferries and Coast Guard vessels. Owners of private luxury and research boats find the cameras especially useful to detect everything from pirates to oil spills and from icebergs to whale spouts.
Nicholas said the company is also partnering with non-governmental organizations to find ways to make the cameras more affordable for them.
Though Nicholas declined to comment on large-scale contacts, BC Premier Christy Clark was at Current Corporation earlier this month to drum up support for the company's bid to supply night-vision cameras for the new non-combat vessels that will soon be built for the federal government by Seaspan.
Established in 1986 as an electrical distribution company with two employees, Current Corporation now boasts more than 30 employees that work on systems that cost up to $500,000.
Along with its Night Navigator 1 and Night Navigator 3000 systems, Current Corporation also has the Night Navigator 3, which has three cameras in three spectrums: a high-definition day camera, a high-resolution dual field of view thermal imager, and a gated image-intensified high-definition night-vision camera.
And next year, the company will launch its Night Navigator SOS (Safety On Seas) that joins an active, laser-gated image-intensified night-vision camera with a high-resolution thermal imager, producing maximum detail and clarity and fulfilling the company's mission: "To Save Lives and Property At Sea."
Nicholas said Current Corporation's products make the business stand out from other night-vision camera competitors. "Nobody offers the high quality that we do," he said.
