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NORTH SHORE WEWS

COMMUNITY LIFE

Marine techno
mpany gets $4m

Gl

Anna-Louise Pentland
Contributing Writer
OFFSHORE Systems
Ltd. (OSL) has
received a $4 million
early Christmas pre-
sent from the federal

government.

Industry Canada
announced that OSL of
North Vancouver will receive

a repayable Technology
Partnerships Canada invest-
ment. The government will
provide the funds over a four
year period and will expect
the company to repay it over
the subsequent eight years,
based on a fraction of sales.

John Jacobson, OSL
president, said the project
will create 84 new high tech-
nology jobs over the four-
year period.

GY

Jacobson said the money
will allow the company to
make an international pres-
ence. The project’s goal is to
build state of the art technol-
ogy that exceeds the new
international standards for
electronic chart display sys-
tems being implemented by
the International Maritime
Organization.

The new system will cre-
ate a display of real-time pre-

sentation of all available data,
including a ship’s current
position and course in rela-
tion to the contour of the
ocean floor, the coastline,
navigation aids and marine
traffic. Navigational ecrors
currently account for about
46% of marine casualties and
65% of pollution-causing
incidents.

OSL currently employs
74 people. The company is a
wholly owned subsidiary of
Offshore Systems
International Ltd.

Jacobson urged other
Western-based companies to
to take advantage of the fed-
eral money. “It’s good to see
some money coming West. If
you go to the trouble of
building your case, you can
make it work,” he said. .

NEWS photo Julle tverson

ALEX Nikolajevich, West Coast account manager
for Offshore Systems Ltd., shows the company’s
marine navigation system.

Best bites of the century

GEEZ, that century seemed to whiz by in no
time at all.

Before it’s completely gone, there’s unfinished business
on a host of fronts.

For thase who toil on the dining beat there is of course
the annual Best-Of list to compile.

With the turn of the century, the task for Table
Hopping staff is a touch more challenging.

NEWS photo Julie Iverson

Cool moon

FULL and fat, the moon showed itsalf brightly on its closest pass of Earth this
year just a. few days ago. News photographer Julie Iverson caught the orb

through a patch of Christmas lights. See more page 19

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