The new Admiralty ECDIS Service combines the most accurate official vector and official raster electronic charts available to deliver global electronic chart coverage in a single, easy to manage package.

Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are the most advanced official nautical charts available today. ENCs are vector charts, issued on the authority of national hydrographic authorities, and provide the most comprehensive, current chart information available.

Admiralty Raster Charts (ARCS) are high quality, digital versions of British Admiralty paper charts. Produced by the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) for the commercial shipping industry, ARCS charts fully meet the Raster Navigational Chart (RNC) standards set-down by the IMO and can be used where ENC’s are not yet available.

The Admiralty ECDIS Service provides ENCs where available and ARCS charts where not. This IMO-approved combination enables shipping companies to reap the benefits of ENCs while coverage is still growing, and helps to make the most of investment in Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS).

The UKHO compares newly released ENCs, in terms of both coverage and scale, with existing ARCS charts. New ENCs are automatically issued to all customers to replace ARCS charts as coverage increases, putting an end to the heavy administration often associated with using ENCs.

The Admiralty ECDIS Service has been developed to help shipping companies meet SOLAS carriage requirements for ECDIS. It provides ENCs where the UKHO has access to them together with comprehensive ARCS coverage.

100% Official
The Admiralty ECDIS service is the first digital chart service in the world to supply a combination of electronic charts for ECDIS that can fully meet the IMO ECDIS performance standards. In areas where ENCs are not yet available ARCS charts may, with flag state approval, be used in ECDIS for primary navigation rather than just a secondary aid to the paper chart.

Regulatory Situation
All ships irrespective of size shall have nautical charts and nautical publications to plan and display the ship’s route for the intended voyage and to plot and monitor positions throughout the voyage; an electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) may be accepted as meeting the chart carriage requirements of this sub paragraph. IMO SOLAS Chapter V, Regulation 19, 2.1.5

IMO resolution MSC.86(70) permits ECDIS equipment to operate in a Raster Chart Display System (RCDS) mode in the absence of Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC). When operating in the RCDS mode, ECDIS should be used together with an appropriate folio of up-to-date paper charts.. IHO Product Specification for RNC, Foreword

Admiralty ECDIS Service Benefits

• The first Service to provide the IMO-approved combination of ENCs and ARCS as a single
  package making it easier to benefit from ECDIS while ENC coverage is growing.
• 100% official data providing the most accurate and safest chart information available.
• Worldwide coverage.
• New ENCs automatically supplied as they become available and at no extra cost to keep
  your customers SOLAS compliant and give them financial stability.
• All ENCs and ARCS charts continuously updated via the Admiralty weekly update service
  (CD only initially). Updates include all Notices to Mariners, New Editions, Replacement
  Charts and Temporary and Preliminary Notices for all charts ensuring maximum safety.
• All aspects of the service fully tested and operated by the UKHO,a world leading
  hydrographic authority, giving your customers total confidence and peace of mind.

Flexibility
Every Admiralty ECDIS Service customer is provided with a complete set of Base disks containing every ENC and ARCS chart available within the service. Access is provided by special folio 'unlock' (permit) keys, allowing you to carry global coverage whilst only paying for the level of folio coverage you require. Significantly, this allows the flexibility to upgrade coverage during a licence period.

Global Electronic Chart Coverage in the Admiralty ECDIS Service
ENC coverage is expanding rapidly and already the ECDIS service includes ENC coverage from the following countries together with all available ARCS charts.
 

Aegean Sea Arabian Sea Argentina Ascension Island Atlantic Ocean Australia Azores Bab el Mandeb Bahamas Bahrain Balearics Baltic Barbados Belgium Bermuda Black Sea Canary Islands Caribbean Sea Coral Sea Corsica

Cyprus Denmark Djibouti Eastern Africa Egypt English Channel Estonia Falkland Islands Finland France Ghawdex Gibraltar Gulf of Aden Gulf of Bothnia Gulf of Finland Gulf of Guinea Gulf of Oman Iceland Indian Ocean Irish Sea

Italy Jamaica Latvia La Reunion Madeira Islands Malta Mauritius Mexico Montserrat Netherlands North Sea Norway Panama Canal Persian Gulf Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Red Sea Russia

Saint Helena Sardinia Singapore Skagerrak Socotra South Africa Southern Ocean Spain Sri Lanka Strait of Hormuz Suez Canal Svalbard Sweden Trinidad Turkey UK West Indies Western Africa

ENC coverage is continuously growing and we will continue to keep you updated as coverage improves. Please note that ARCS coverage is now available in all areas other than Japanese, Ecuadorian and larger scales in Malaysian waters.

Geographic Areas
Chart coverage in the ECDIS service is provided in 38 geographic areas - each geographic area containing ENCs, where available, together with comprehensive ARCS coverage. The geographic areas have been designed to simplify both the ordering process and pricing of the new service, whilst minimising the number of ENCs and ARCS charts the shipping company must purchase.

Click on an area of the map to view the chart coverage contained within each folio.

1. The Transit Folio contains the ENCs and ARCS charts required for safe transit of a geographic area, including principal ports, primary routes, bunkering ports and ports of refuge and excluding all other charts. For a graphical example of the level of coverage, please refer to the diagram below.

2. The Standard Folio contains the ENCs and ARCS charts required for operational use, including all key ports and approach charts in that geographical area. Remote anchorages, ports of less than 10 meters in depth, naval bases, ports where port calls are few, bulk cargo only ports, low throughput container ports, very small crude oil loading ports and low volume oil product ports are all excluded. For a graphical example of the level of coverage, please refer to the diagram.

3. The Full Folio contains all ENCs and ARCS charts available for the geographic area. For a graphical example of the level of coverage, please refer to the diagram below.

These folio categories have been designed to appeal to passenger liners, container ships, crude oil tankers, product tankers, chemical carriers, gas carriers and UK ferries. It is anticipated that these folios will not be as well suited to naval vessels, non-SOLAS tonnage, bulk carriers, coastal traders or pleasure craft.

The ENC content in each folio is increasing rapidly as the UKHO actively seeks to extend coverage through close cooperation with other official producers of ENCs.

Folio Coverage and Pricing