October 8, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) and Kemilinks International Pte Ltd (Kemilinks) announce that Kemilinks is now offering Long-Range Identification and Tracking  through the Iridium satellite network.

Kemilinks acts as the LRIT Application Service Provider for the flag states of Kiribati, Tuvalu, Mongolia and, through its partners, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. As an Iridium Value-Added Reseller, Kemilinks is now able to sell and provision Iridium-based LRIT connectivity to ships flying those flags.

Under new regulations that the International Maritime Organization  has adopted, ships subject to the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) must be equipped with an approved LRIT device that reports its location and identification to a database operated by the administration under which the vessel is flagged. The database may be accessed by authorized users, such as national coast guards, at regular intervals.

The IMO LRIT carriage requirements apply to all vessels of 300 gross tonnage and above on international voyages, including passenger ships, cargo ships, high-speed craft and mobile offshore drilling units.

The LRIT carriage requirements came into effect January 1, 2009 for ships operating in all IMO Sea Areas except Sea Area A4. The deadline for ships operating in Sea Area A4 was July 1, 2009. All new ships subject to the LRIT regulations were required to comply by these dates, and current ships requiring retrofit equipment must comply by the date of their first radio survey after these deadlines. Ships certified in Sea Area A4 must comply by the earlier date when they are operating in other Sea Areas.

FinancialWire(tm) is a fully independent, proprietary news wire service. FinancialWire(tm) is not a press release service, and receives no compensation for its news, opinions or distributions. Further disclosure is at the FinancialWire(tm) web site (http://www.financialwire.net/disclosures.php). Contact FinancialWire(tm) directly via inquiries@financialwire.net.

Free annual reports for companies mentioned in the news are available through the Free Annual Reports Service (http://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279).

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.