28/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - All national systems for monitoring maritime traffic are up and running and have been linked to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) vessel information and monitoring system, SafeSeaNet, the agency's 2009 annual report has revealed. According to the report, most of the 24 participating states (23 EU member states with access to the seas, and Iceland) are providing the system with all the required information. The number of users has exceeded 2,000. This includes national maritime authorities, vessel traffic services, search and rescue centres and ports. EMSA is currently developing the second generation of the system. In addition to the four types of information the system currently provides (ports, vessels, dangerous goods transported and incidents/accidents), SafeSeaNet V2 will provide information on the port state control and inspection regime. It will also provide LRIT (Long Range Identification and Tracking) information in addition to the short-range identification information (AIS) currently available. (A.By.transl.rt)