How TracPlus Global Began

In May 2003, a day's fishing by five friends off the North Otago coast in New Zealand turned to tragedy when their small vessel was swamped by waves and capsized. Cast into the cold southern ocean, the skipper assured his friends the emergency locator beacon had been activated and rescue was on the way.

However, unknown to the men, a record-keeping error at the national search and rescue headquarters meant that a rescue aircraft operating out of a distant city, Invercargill, was dispatched instead of a helicopter operating less than 20 minutes away. By the time rescuers arrived two-and-a-half hours later, three of the men had died from hypothermia.

The resulting ministerial enquiry led to the establishment of the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand (RCCNZ) with responsibility for coordinating all major sea and air services. Air rescue pilot Graeme Gale, who owned the helicopter that could have prevented the loss of life, approached TracPlus Global founder Chris Hinch to see if a tracking system could be developed that would allow him to see where his helicopters were at any time and share that information with other agencies, including the RCCNZ.

In late 2005, a small satellite tracking terminal was acquired and fitted to Gale's helicopter. After 18 months and exhaustive testing by hundreds of users, TracPlus Global was launched as a fully fledged tracking service provider in August 2007.

Within six months, TracPlus Global had become the tracking service of choice for air and sea rescue operations throughout New Zealand, including Coastguard New Zealand, thanks to its seamless ability to securely share information between operators and SAR authorities.

In 2008, TracPlus Global won the prestigious international Technium Challenge, quickly followed by TUANZ Innovation of the Year Award, TUANZ Initiative of the Year and Gen-I Startup Exporter of the Year.

Between 2008 and 2010, TracPlus Global sponsored multiple successful adventurers, including the "Grand Adventure" helicopter speed record, the "Crossing the Ditch" trans-Tasman kayak record, the "Tasman Trespasser" trans-Tasman solo rowing record, and 17-year old Jessica Watson's solo circumnavigation of the globe.

Today, TracPlus Global's mission critical operation supports the daily operations of large enterprise clients in the energy, oil and gas and mining sectors, emergency service agencies, multinational businesses, high value executives, lone workers, explorers, adventurers, helicopter operators, flight training schools, airborne fire fighters, air rescue and air ambulance operators, coastguards, law enforcement agencies, NGO's and armed forces in over 30 countries.