BSH kompakt 
31 
OFFICIAL 
Up-to-date nautical charts and books 
Up-to-date nautical charts and other 
nautical publications are mandatory 
on board seagoing ships to avoid 
hazards to shipping and the marine 
environment. In Germany, the BSH is 
the agency that issues the approx. 
450 official navigational charts and 
Sailing Directions. All of our 60 charts 
covering the German sea areas in the 
North and Baltic Seas use own survey 
data as a basis, which are provided 
“first-hand” by the BSH’s survey 
and wreck search vessels. The data 
needed to chart foreign waters are 
provided to the BSH directly by the 
other hydrographic offices. The BSH's 
nautical charts and handbooks are 
updated by its weekly “Nachrichten 
fur Seefahrer” (NfS, notices to 
mariners). 
Besides paper charts, the BSH also 
produces electronic navigational 
charts (ENCs) and regular updates for 
ECDIS, the Electronic Chart Display 
and Information System, which meets 
the IMO performance standards for 
the mandatory carriage of official, up- 
to-date nautical charts. The 135 ENCs 
produced by the BSH for the German 
sea areas in the North and Baltic Seas 
correspond to 56 paper charts 
including 109 harbour plans. 
2007 
Reprints of 81 nautical charts (16 for 
the North and Baltic Seas, 65 for 
European waters); 
New Editions of 35 ENCs and weekly 
ENC updates; 
Nautical books: 12 reprints and 3 
supplements; 
Continuation of digital processing 
of the German charts, which are 
converted to full digital work- 
flow; 
Weekly publication of NfS (with a 
total of 241 chart corrections); 
About 800 navigational warnings 
issued by the Radio Navigation 
al Warnings Centre at Emden, 
which is supervised by the BSH; 
In co-operation with Alfred Wegener 
Institute for Polar and Marine 
Research (AWI), start of the 
“Coolchart” project of charting 
the Weddell Sea in international 
Antarctic waters; 
Order placed for a modern four-co 
lour printing machine to be used 
for chart printing at the Rostock 
headquarters.