Completion of developmental testing - Australia National LRIT Data Centre

15 February 2010

The International Maritime Organization advised the members of the Australian National Data Centre (AusCDC) that the final steps had been completed for the integration of the 'AusCDC' into the production environment of Long Range Identification Tracking system (LRIT) on Thursday 10 February.

The AusCDC is the name given to the Australian National Data Centre offering services to the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. This announcement comes one year after the initial meeting of the potential members of the AusCDC, hosted by the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at their facilities in Wollongong, NSW in February 2009.

The members of the AusCDC met via teleconference every 6 weeks in the time period between February 2009 and February 2010 to address a number of issues and work through the steps required to respond to the process of the developmental testing.

AusCDC members recently met to address a number of outstanding issues and receive training on the system at their annual face to face meeting, hosted by Maritime Cook Islands at their facilities on Rarotonga, Cook Islands. The membership of the AusCDC highlights the benefits of participating in a cooperative approach to responding to the obligations of SOLAS regulation 19-1, and the group will continue to meet regularly via teleconference until the next planned face to face meeting in February 2011.

An ambitious set of action items resulting from the meeting will assist members in the next phase of LRIT implementation, as well as provide an opportunity to advise IMO of the experience of the start-up of the system.

Top photo - members of the AusCDC represented by (from left to right): National Maritime Safety Authority, Papua New Guinea - Dii Thomas and Paul Ginis; Maritime Cook Is. - Paula Manarangi; Maritime New Zealand - Renny vander Velde; Pole Star Global - Julian Longson; Maritime New Zealand - Nigel Clifford; Australian Maritime Safety Authority - Jillian Carson-Jackson; Maritime Cook Is. - Glenn Armstrong; Pole Star Global - Amanda Northey.