Segment: port and transportation facility services
Port facility services: TWIC-credentialed, self-performed, and staffed for 24/7
Marine terminals, port authority campuses, and transportation facilities run under a facility security plan and a schedule that does not stop at five. So, IH Services staffs them with its own TWIC-credentialed employees, by shift, under one agreement per site. As a result, the facility security officer gets a crew that was credentialed before the first shift, and the operations team gets one accountable name around the clock.
IH Services provides port facility services: custodial and terminal building cleaning, industrial housekeeping, grounds and exterior, waste and recycling, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing maintenance for terminal buildings, all under one site manager and one escalation path. Crews hold Transportation Worker Identification Credentials, work inside the facility security plan the terminal’s facility security officer owns, and run every task through R3 Secure FacilityOps so the access, completion, and corrective-action records are ready when the Coast Guard inspection or the operator’s audit asks.
Why port facility services are different
A regulated terminal shares the access discipline of a defense plant. Then, it adds three conditions of its own.
Credentials TSA issues
For instance, unescorted access to a secure area requires a TWIC, and TSA sets the processing time. Consequently, a provider has to sponsor people against the start date rather than after award, or the terminal ends up escorting its own cleaners.
The facility security plan
Likewise, 33 CFR Part 105 puts the facility security officer in charge of restricted areas, access control, and records. A provider has to work inside that plan: agreed routes, agreed windows, and access records that reconcile with the terminal’s.
Operations that never stop
Finally, gates, terminal buildings, and maintenance shops run around the clock, and vessel schedules move. A day crew stretched across three shifts fails that test. Shift staffing with a bench passes it.
How IH Services delivers port facility services
TWIC-credentialed, self-performed people. To begin with, our crews are our employees. Then, we sponsor TWIC applications against the start date and agree the restricted-area procedure with your facility security officer. Because the crew is credentialed in advance, your staff do not spend their shift escorting a vendor.
One team, every shift. Likewise, custodial, grounds, waste, and MEP maintenance for terminal buildings run under one site manager, staffed by shift with a bench behind each one. That means one escalation path for the operations lead at two in the morning, one name on each corrective action, and one supplier record for procurement.
Records, not assurances. R3 Secure FacilityOps closes every scheduled task with time, location, and photo evidence where the terminal allows it. It also reconciles restricted-area visits with your access logs and documents root cause and closure on every corrective action.
Proof we publish: 99 percent on-time work-order completion, 98 percent client retention, 100 percent of client-defined reduction targets met, and a seven-year renewal by a New York defense and aerospace client in March 2026.
Credentialed port facility services, without the premium
Many terminals assume a fully credentialed facility crew costs more than it saves, so they keep escorting an uncredentialed vendor instead. However, that assumption is usually right about the quotes they received and wrong about the economics. Specifically, two things make the difference at IH Services.
Credentials at cost, not at a premium
Instead, IH Services carries the credential as a condition of the role, and where a differential applies it is a wage line, not a separate billing rate. In other words, the cost of a credentialed crew is that line minus the escort hours it takes off your books, and on most terminals the second number is larger.
A credentialed bench, so no shift goes uncovered
In addition, we credential two or three employees beyond the number the site needs. When someone calls off or performance slips, we bring in a replacement from the bench instead of leaving a gate house uncovered or keeping the person on because a new credential would take weeks. Consequently, the schedule holds and no employee is captured by their own credential.
The comparison to run: escort hours per month at the loaded cost of the TWIC holder doing the escorting, against the credentialed crew your terminal needs. The escort cost calculator does the arithmetic from your own logs.
The compliance stack behind port facility services
| Area | What the site expects | What we bring |
|---|---|---|
| Access | TWIC for unescorted access to secure areas; restricted-area rules in the facility security plan | TWIC-credentialed crews; sponsorship against the start date; procedure agreed with the facility security officer; access records that reconcile with yours |
| Security plan | 33 CFR Part 105 facility security plan and Coast Guard inspection | Crew briefed to the plan; routes and windows agreed; records available for inspection |
| Registration | Identity in public-agency and operator supplier systems | SAM registered; CAGE 1JXW7; UEI EGR9H17YE9H3; full qualification record |
| Quality | Evidence for the operator’s audit and the port authority | Completion, access, and corrective-action records from R3 Secure FacilityOps |
| Safety | Recordable rates and a trained program | 5-4-0 safety program; EMR 0.90; 2026 TRIR 1.45 |
Of course, details on each line are on the certifications and compliance page. For the governing rule, see 33 CFR Part 105. Scope note: our work stops at the cargo-handling equipment line. Terminal buildings, building systems, grounds, lighting, housekeeping, and waste are ours, while cranes, carriers, and cargo equipment stay with the operator.
Port facility services, by scope
Credentialed custodial for terminal buildings
First, gate complexes, administration buildings, break rooms, and restricted-area offices, cleaned by TWIC holders by shift with documented access. Government custodial services
MEP maintenance for terminal buildings
Likewise, HVAC, electrical distribution, plumbing, lighting, and building systems in terminal and maintenance buildings, preventive first, with completion records. Integrated O&M
Industrial housekeeping
Also, maintenance-shop and warehouse housekeeping scheduled around operations. Industrial housekeeping
Grounds, exterior, and waste
Finally, grounds and snow, exterior and pavement sweeping around buildings, facility waste streams, and corrugate removal and recycling.
Three ways to start
Facility Reliability Readiness Scan
First, ten days, one site: deferred-maintenance backlog, reactive-work share, energy quick wins, and a one-page risk register. Built for facility and operations leaders.
Secure Facility Maintenance Risk Review
Then, with your facility security officer: escort-hour burden, access documentation, and credentialed-workforce capacity against the terminal’s schedule. Built for security leaders.
Scope Baseline
Finally, every recurring task in the current facility scope, classified by the value it carries, with protected cost, recoverable cost, and a Scope Value Index. Built for procurement and finance. How it works
Each one starts with a 20-minute scoping call, and we agree an NDA before any site visit or document changes hands. None of them requires a commitment beyond that call.
Questions terminal operators ask about port facility services
What are port facility services?
Custodial, industrial housekeeping, grounds and exterior, waste and recycling, and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing maintenance for the buildings and grounds of a marine terminal, port authority campus, or transportation facility. The work runs inside a facility security plan under the Maritime Transportation Security Act, so the crew needs TWIC credentials, follows the restricted-area rules the facility security officer sets, and covers operations that do not stop at five o’clock. IH Services staffs that work with its own employees.
Do facility services crews at a port need a TWIC?
Anyone who needs unescorted access to a secure area of an MTSA-regulated facility needs a Transportation Worker Identification Credential, issued by TSA after a security threat assessment. Without one, a custodian or technician has to be escorted by a TWIC holder, which ties up the terminal’s own people. So, IH Services staffs port work with TWIC holders and sponsors new hires against the start date, since TSA sets the processing time.
How do facility services fit under a facility security plan?
The facility security officer under 33 CFR Part 105 owns the plan, including which areas are restricted, who may enter them, and how access is recorded. A facility services provider works inside that plan rather than around it: credentialed crews, agreed routes and windows, and access records that reconcile with the terminal’s. IH Services agrees the procedure with the facility security officer before the first shift. Note that at a port, FSO means the MTSA facility security officer; IH Services’ own FSO under the National Industrial Security Program is a different role, and the two coordinate where both apply.
Can a facility services provider cover a terminal that runs 24/7?
Yes, if it staffs for it rather than stretching a day crew. Terminal buildings, gate complexes, and maintenance shops run around the clock, and vessel schedules move. For that reason, IH Services schedules custodial and housekeeping by shift, holds a bench so a call-off does not leave a gate house uncovered, and runs preventive maintenance on terminal buildings in the windows the operations team sets.
Does IH Services work on cranes, straddle carriers, or other cargo-handling equipment?
No. Our work stops at the equipment line: terminal buildings, gate complexes, administration and maintenance buildings, grounds, lighting, building systems, and facility waste streams are ours, while cargo-handling equipment and its maintenance stay with the operator and its equipment vendors. The same boundary applies at a rail yard, an airport support facility, or a distribution hub.
What proof does IH Services publish?
99 percent on-time work-order completion, 98 percent client retention, 100 percent of client-defined reduction targets met, and a seven-year contract renewal by a New York defense and aerospace client in March 2026. For safety, EMR 0.90 and 2026 TRIR 1.45. Also, references are available under NDA on request.
Which terminal is carrying the most escort hours right now?
Start there. After all, a 20-minute call is enough to scope a Readiness Scan or a Secure Facility Risk Review for that site.