Can you use an Apple Express as a router?

I used to have an Airport Extreme in my shop that I used as a router that was hooked directly to my fiber coming in. Unfortunately my shop burnt down so I am trying to use an Airport Express to do the same thing but cannot get the Express to allow me to access my cameras from outside my property. I am told that I need to set up the Express for port forwarding. We have done that and seems like it worked when you look at the Express on the Airport Utility but when tested it shows the port is not open.

My question is: can you use an Airport Express as a ROUTER in this case or do I need to use an Airport Extreme?