'In view of the ever increasing traffic on the North Sea and the increasingly strict European and international regulations, the Flemish Government saw the need for a modern and sophisticated MRCC, said Antoine Deschamps, Head of Shipping Assistance Division.

'We are confident that the new MRCC in Ostend, equipped with the latest monitoring and communication technology, will play a very important role in maintaining the safety and environmental friendliness of our coastal waters and in providing the best possible response and accommodation in case of an incident.'

For the MRCC project, Barco has developed an integrated monitoring system combining an advanced VTS with an IMS and an SAR module. With the new system, operators will be able to display traffic data coming from different external sensor sites such as the Scheldt radar chain. Fabricom GTI will be responsible for the installation of the system as well as for the hydro-meteo system and the PLC driven automated signalisation for the port management control. Tein Telecom will install a maritime communication platform from Frequentis which will allow operators to communicate with vessels at sea.

This fault tolerant and fully digital platform will be integrated with external information sources such as DSC calls and Navtex messages in order to guarantee maximum safety at sea. Tein Telecom will also take full responsibility for the complete network infrastructure of the new MRCC, including two Synchronous Digital Hierarchy microwave connections.

The first phase of the MRCC programme started last month and the centre will be fully operational in June 2006.

MJ Information No: 20425