Last week, the UKHO announced they will be phasing out the production and supply of paper charts to the market with complete withdrawal by the end of 2030 due to a continuing reduction in the demand for paper charts.
Currently, they see 85% of charting demands being for digital products and this has been increasing over the last few years.
The UKHO are committed to ensuring their plan allows mariners to transition to alternate products and services in plenty of time so they will be using a sunsetting process which is essentially a managed withdrawal over the next few years.
The products that will be affected in due course are: –
Standard Navigational Charts (SNCs)
Thematic Charts
ADMIRALTY Raster Chart Service (ARCS)
GeoTIFF supply (under licence)
Section II NMs
Tracings
Small Craft Charts
Print on Demand (POD)
In the future, paper publications will be reviewed also but no decisions have been made on this currently.
For the vessels using ECDIS Service, the UKHO will actively assess the impact to the ECDIS service as ARCs are removed from coverage and AIO as paper chart comparisons are prevented.
At dsnm, we will continue full paper charting support including supply and correction for the foreseeable future and we are also committed to ensuring all clients have a smooth transition away from paper charting when each individual vessel deems this appropriate.
We look forward to the migration to digital solutions for all clients by 2026 and will continue to support every customer with this process with years of experience of hardware installation and support. Plans are already in place to expand our digital team to ensure we continue to provide the highest level of service in the industry.
Any questions, please contact David Store. The full announcement can be found here on the ADMIRALTY website.
