AHS Australian Hydrographic Office RNCs catalogue (Aus paper charts)
on the GeoGarage platform
From AMSA
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) issued a marine notice, in order to draw attention to the importance of using only official nautical charts to comply with flag State requirements, under Chapter V of the amended International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).
As AMSA continues to witness the use of unofficial paper and electronic nautical charts on board ships, it outlines that official charts are those issued by or on the authority of a government, authorised hydrographic office or other relevant government institution.
AMSA notes that for an Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC) or paper nautical chart to be considered adequate for navigational purposes, it must be:
- issued officially
- of appropriate scale, suitable for the navigational task at hand
- of the latest edition
- used in its original form, and
- maintained up-to-date, using the latest available notices to mariners or ENC update service
Unofficial electronic chart with reef, islands and obstructions missing.
Incorrect depth areas and contours result in an incorrect and unreliable safety depth contour
Incorrect depth areas and contours result in an incorrect and unreliable safety depth contour
(defaulting to 200m instead of the missing 30m contour incorrectly suggests all lesser depthsare highlighted).
Note that the 11m obstruction is one of several not highlighted, the 15m obstruction is missing and a false 10m shoal appears to have been added.
(C-Map vector digital chart)
On the other hand, unofficial paper charts include (but are not limited) to:
- photocopies
- facsimiles or imitations of official paper charts
- large format commercial printed copies of scanned ENC, and
- paper charts ‘assembled’ by printing several small portions of a Raster Navigational Chart (RNC)
Same area (Cargados Carajos shoals) with official raster chart from SHOM from the GeoGarage platform.
Official RNC with reef, islands, obstructions and depths all displayed correctly.
Safety depth contour includes all dangers to navigating.
Recommendations
AMSA urges ship owners, operators, agents and masters to contact AHS, if they suspect that an ‘AUS’ paper or raster chart or an ‘AU’ ENC is not genuine, and provide relevant details.
AHS will actively seek to stop the production and sale of unofficial copies of AHS products.
AMSA also reminds that the carriage of up-todate nautical charts is critical to the safety of navigation, so it urges all purchasers, users, marine surveyors and recognised organisations to be vigilant in identifying unofficial nautical charts.
Links :
- Powerboat World : AMSA marine notice – Importance of using official nautical charts / 5628 / 5629 / other
- Safety4Sea: http://www.safety4sea.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/AMSA-Official-Nautical-Charts-2017_05.pdf
- GeoGarage blog : After crash in Volvo Ocean Race, a team shifts its focus ... / Independent report into the stranding of Vestas Wind / Questions about electronic charts in a twenty-first century ... / Questions asked about Volvo Ocean Race boat grounding
Science Direct : Nautical cartography competences and their effect to the realisation of a worldwide Electronic Navigational Charts database, the performance of ECDIS and the fulfilment of IMO chart carriage requirements
ReplyDeleteUSCG : The US Coast Guard issued change 1 to Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular 01-16 'Use of Electronic Charts and Publications in Lieu of Paper Charts, Maps, and Publications'. The equivalency determination enclosure to the NVIC has been reorganized and expanded. A new enclosure has been added providing guidelines for inspecting and using electronic charts and publications.
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