GHR is confident that its own critical systems, namely the Vessel Traffic Service System and the Data Processing System, will be millenium-resistant at the beginning of 1999. However, ships must also show that they are millenium-proof and take safety margins into consideration which are greater than normal, according to Peter Struijs, GHR's executive director of Shipping.
Consultations reveal that the large shipping companies are taking the millenium bug very seriously.
Although not prepared to comment on which parties could play an important role in putting together a standard, Struijs is in favour of a national, and preferably international policy.