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www.maritimeprofessional.com Maritime Professional 27 increased from 4 hours to 8 hours. And, this amounts to an audit of class.? Gallagher adds, ?We accept their (class) recommendations but we also oversee their methods.? Boasting a Maritime Services Group that is ISO9001:2008 certified, IRI procedures also depend on a glob- al standard. ISO-certified since 1995, and only recently renewed again, all of IRI?s smaller international offices are also part of the quality system, and regulated by controlled documents, etc.PIRACY AND CASUALTIES ? TESTING THE FABRIC OF ANY REGISTRY Today's international marine transportation industry demand administrations that provide a compliant regulato- ry atmosphere regarding maritime safety, security and environmental protection and one that is capable and will- ing to act responsively and decisively whenever or wher- ever necessary. Achieving those metrics entails 24-hour global coverage, conducted by qualified professionals. In the case of IRI, this involves their Hong Kong office cov- ering overnight traffic and then ? following the sun ? that traffic migrates to the Piraeus office, on to Reston and soon, on to a new Los Angeles U.S. west Coast office. In this way IRI and RMI achieve total global technical over- sight at all times. Eventually, a Brazil office will be opened so as to properly serve that rapidly burgeoning market and its many players. It is possible that IRI is not the only flag state adminis-trator that tracks every single one of their 2,485 vessels with an LRIT Tracking and Status Board, but they were the first. Utilizing IRI?s 24/7 global office spread, the move- ment of vessels is constantly monitored and those headed into dangerous or pirate infested watered are warned (auto- matic ?trip? lines) and then put on an accelerated reportingschedule. Any vessel that fails to report in or shows an unexpected anomaly in its expected track is queried and investigated. THE RMI FLEET ? IMPRESSIVE STATISTICS; DEEPER THAN THE RAW NUMBERS Bill Gallagher dislikes the old labels. ?We are a flag of compliance; not a flag of convenience.? Looking at his fleet statistics, it is difficult to argue with him. This is not your grandfather?s flag of convenience. Indeed, Table 1. depicts a spread of quality tonnage that any shipper could envy: The statistics are important for many reasons. In terms of the publicly traded companies, no one wants to see their ?good citizen? corporation?s name in lights when the oil is pouring unabated from the ruptured hull. Participation in a quality flag state registration scheme is one way to lessen ?You can?t nickel and dime it over at IMO. You have to have active representation on committees dealing with such critical issues as STCW. We don?t expect kudos for doing it, but we do partici- pate and it costs money to do so. A lot of flagstates don?t participate.? Bill Gallagher, President, IRI MP #4 (18-33):MP Layouts 11/8/2011 1:49 PM Page 27