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Price includes:

• 2 Free retests
• Free vessel tracking for the duration of the test *
• View entire fleet online in realtime (on request)
• Conformance Test Report if supplied by FMS

* Please note this is not currently available for Iridium equipment tests.

Register your vessel online      Tel: +44 1708 788400      enquiries@fulcrum-maritime.com

List of Test Prices by Flag State

** Please note for Iridium testing there is an additional charge added to the above charge (USD$90 | GBP£50 | EUR€60)

LRIT information for ship owners

On contacting Fulcrum a ship owner will be asked to provide the following information for testing. (If you click on the link on the banner at the top of the page to 'Register online for testing', you can view the registration form, which asks for all the relevant information for testing).

• Ship name
• IMO number
• MMSI number
• Shipborne Equipment ID
• Ship Owner Name
• Ship Owner’s Company Name
• Named contact for Ship (this is the person who will be contacted regarding the test)
• Contact number and/or email for named contact

In agreement with the Ship Owner or Appointed Contact, Fulcrum will send test commands to the ship's LRIT equipment. The test is carried out as per the strict test specifications and performance tolerances in MSC Circular 1307. (A copy of the exact test is found in this document on our Documentation page should you wish to look it up. The full test is detailed in the Annex on page 13).

The test lasts approximately 48 hours and at the end of a successful test, a Conformance Test Report is issued by Fulcrum or the Flag that the vessel is registered to.

At the end of the test, the shipborne equipment is reset and de-registered by Fulcrum to ensure that the equipment stops sending LRIT position reports. After the test, the ship will not start sending position reports for LRIT until it is integrated into the National Data Centre that is provided by the Flag to which it is registered. Once registered to the Data Centre, the cost of the position reports is borne by the Flag State and not by the vessel owner.

If you are unsure of the process, please contact a member of Fulcrum staff and we will explain the requirements and the known LRIT equipment requirements. If a vessel does not have the correct compliant equipment then we will advise how and where to arrange for LRIT equipment to be installed and we can recommend a list of LRIT compliant equipment.

A successful test will result in the issue of a Conformance Test Report. This will be produced in an electronic format and provided to the named ship contact(s). The format for the report is compliant with the model defined by the IMO “Guidance on the survey and certification of compliance of ships” (MSC Circular 1307).

If a ship does not pass the test successfully, a feedback report detailing the test results will be provided. The feedback will state which particular item(s) of the test the shipborne equipment failed. If the equipment is not able to perform satisfactorily, Fulcrum will recommend that it is upgraded. We can advise on suitable devices for LRIT.

The obligations of ships to transmit LRIT information and the rights and obligations of Contracting Governments and of Search and rescue services to receive LRIT information are established in regulation V/19-1 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention.

According to the SOLAS V/19-1 Long Range Identification and Tracking regulation, shipborne equipment must comply to type approval by flag administrations. In order to facilitate this, Flag States should authorise Application Service Providers (ASPs) to test shipborne equipment on their behalf.

The LRIT regulations as laid down by the IMO came into force on 1 January 2008. These regulations apply to :

• vessels (international voyages) constructed on or after 31 December 2008
• Passenger ships including high speed passenger craft
• Cargo ships including high speed craft of 300gt and upwards
• Mobile Offshore Drilling Units
• Ships constructed before 31 December 2008
• Sailing in A1+A2+A3 First Radio survey after 31 December 2008
• Sailing in A1+A2+A3+A4 First Radio Survey after 1 July 2009

Exemptions: Ships sailing exclusively in Sea Area A1 fitted with Class A AIS.

It should be noted that the LRIT systems are subject to type approval unlike SSAS systems.

Each ship operator is responsible for ensuring that each vessel qualifying for LRIT is fitted with ship-borne equipment capable of transmitting ship position which complies with the LRIT regulations.

Inmarsat C has been chosen as the main LRIT data transmission platform. This system is already used by merchant and fishing vessels for tracking by a vessel’s owner/operator. It has proven its capabilities in safety and security applications with extensive use for both GMDSS and Ship Safety Alert System (SSAS) and is in fact the only satellite system allowed for GMDSS use. Other equipment that can be used includes ISATM2M equipment and Iridium equipment. All equipment to be used must be capable of transmitting the following minimum information in an automatically generated position report (APR):

• Ship identity
• Ship position
• Date and time of the position.

The LRIT equipment must also be able to respond to requests for immediate position reports and be able to change the time interval between reports. Reporting periods vary from every 24 hrs to a maximum frequency of every 15 minutes.

Each Flag State is required to test and certify the LRIT terminals for all qualifying vessels under their flag.

LRIT came about as a result of recent international terrorist activity. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) introduced the ISPS-code in 2003 and continued to talk about a system to receive daily position reports from ships at sea as an aspect of Marine Safety. LRIT is designed to ensure that ships provide daily position reports, at a basic rate of every 6 hours (i.e. 4 times a day). Contracting Governments are entitled to receive LRIT data from vessels up to 1000 nm from their coasts.

Ship owners are not bearing the costs of transmitting the position reports required by LRIT but they are required to pay for the LRIT compliance test and the Conformance Test Report. (All vessels that are subject to LRIT must carry a valid LRIT Conformance Test Report onboard at all times.)

It is anticipated that most vessels will be equipped with an existing device that is compatible with LRIT, such as an Inmarsat C GMDSS or Mini-C SSAS system. In this case, the ship owner will simply need to provide the Inmarsat ID upon request and, in general, no additional equipment will be required. However, the choice of equipment to use is at the discretion of the different Flags and for this reason, some Flags have slightly different LRIT policies. In some cases there may be a requirement to purchase a new device solely for the purpose of LRIT, please check with the Flag regarding their LRIT policy. Additionally there may be a need for some software updates to existing devices (Fulcrum can advise on this), an occasional replacement of a earlier Inmarsat-C model or a new LRIT device on vessels where no compatible device is readily available.

The Flag States will pay for the transmission of the position reports and the international LRIT infrastructure.

The ship-borne equipment should comply with the following minimum requirements:

• be capable of automatically and without human intervention on board the ship transmitting the ship’s LRIT information at 6-hour intervals to an LRIT Data Centre;
• be capable of being configured remotely to transmit LRIT information at variableintervals;
• be capable of transmitting LRIT information following receipt of polling commands;
• interface directly to the ship-borne global navigation satellite system equipment, or have internal positioning capability;
• be supplied with energy from the main and emergency source of electrical power3;
• be tested for electromagnetic compatibility taking into account the recommendations4 developed by the Organization.

General requirements are contained in resolution A.694(17) on Recommendations on general requirements for ship-borne radio equipment forming part of the global maritime distress and safety system (GMDSS) and for electronic navigational aids and MSC Circ 1 1307, which is available on this website.

The ship-borne equipment should transmit the LRIT information using a communication system which provides coverage in all areas where the ship operates. All sea areas are covered by LRIT, including Sea Area 4.

LRIT data is a position report that is sent by a vessel via secured communications links. The data is received by a single recipient, the Flag to which the vessel is registered. It is not available to any other recipient. This is a key difference between LRIT and AIS. The data may be requested by another Flag State that wishes to be notified of any LRIT vessel entering its territorial waters. In this circumstance, the data is sent via in a secured and encrypted format via the International Data Exchange, which is neutral and which is part of the international LRIT system. The International Data Exchange is only permitted to redirect data and is not permitted (or able) to view the content of the LRIT information that it handles, it is simply a redirector service. All data is protected legally by interferance from any Nation State.

The position report is sent from the LRIT equipment aboard by satellite to a Land Earth Station, from where it is transferred across a secure encrypted channel to an ASP or 'Application Service Provider'. The ASP relays the message to the National Data Centre, from where the vessel is monitored by the Flag to which it is registered.

When a ship is undergoing repairs, modifications or conversions in dry-dock or in port or is laid up for a long period, the Flag may reduce the frequency of the transmission of LRIT information to one transmission every 24-hour period, or may temporarily stop the transmission of such information. Vessel owners should communicate to the Flag if a vessel is to be laid up for any period of time.

Exemptions from LRIT requirements are only possible in cases as follows:

1. When the vessel is not engaged in international voyages or is operating exclusively within the territorial waters of a single country,
2. When the vessel is operating exclusively in GMDSS sea area A1 and fitted with AIS,
3. There is long term lay-up or conversion with all shipboard system non-operational and without shipboard power,
4. Vessel will enter into long term lay-up or conversion with all shipboard systems non-operational and without shipboard power.