Economy
The main economic activity on the island is centred on the military bases at Wideawake Airfield, and the BBC World Service's Atlantic Relay station. The Ministry of Defence estate and facilities are currently managed by the infrastructure support provider Interserve Defence. Serco currently manages the airport services with Sodexo providing catering and domestic facilities. A former feature of Ascension was a 70,000 tonne tanker permanently moored offshore that was operated by Maersk as a bulk fuel facility. In December 2002, this was replaced by an on-shore Petroleum Supply Depot under military management, with fuel still being delivered by a chartered tanker; the Maersk Rapier, which operates on an MOD resupply contract for both Ascension and the Falkland Islands every 2 months. Fuel for the island is transferred via a floating hose, which is connected to the on-shore depot at the islands pier head and to the ship, once it is anchored off Georgetown.
The main export items are Ascension Island postage stamps, first issued in 1922, and, since 2010, commemorative coins (which are legal tender but non-circulating) and commercial fishing licences for long-line tuna fishing vessels operating to ICCAT quotas.
A secondary export is the international internet domain code .ac, which small UK educational colleges and science museums are favouring due to its similarity to .ac.uk, the domain code reserved for well established UK educational institutions.
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