China's coast now charted electronically by UKHO

THE United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has announced the completion of Chinese coastal coverage of Electronic Navigation Charts (ENC).

This comes ahead of mandatory ECDIS carriage requirements to be implemented as early as 2012, reports London-based Digital Ship.

UKHO's Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS) will now include coverage of the Chinese mainland as far as the Pearl River, the coast of Hainan Island and ports including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Qingdao.

In total the UKHO said that it has released 375 Chinese ENCs covering the area of Chinese coastal waters and all the country's major ports.

The new charts are being provided under an agreement between the UKHO and the Chinese Naval Guarantee Department (NGD), and are only available through UKHO's Admiralty services.

This includes official berth-to-berth coverage between 2,165 trading ports worldwide and more than 10,613 charts.

ENCs are provided on three-, six-, nine- and 12-month licensing terms, with instant access via the Admiralty remote licensing facility and a weekly updating service, both online and on CD.
(Source:www.schednet.com)