National Hydrographic Office makes waves with the New Galle Harbour Electronic Chart

The Sri Lanka National Hydrographic Office(SLNHO) added another feather to its recent streak of achievements with the publication of the new Electronic Navigation Chart(ENC) of the Galle Harbour on 31^st October 2024. This is the first ENC produced by the Sri Lanka National Hydrographic Office since its establishment last December. The production of this ENC signifies the recent efforts by the SLNHO as a part of a National responsibility entrusted by National Hydrographic Act No: 7, 2024.

Electronic navigational charts which are digital alternatives for paper nautical charts (sea maps) helps sea fearers to navigate through oceans. The new Galle Harbour ENC, is issued under LK ENC series No: LK5G04A1 which comes with an annual subscription of USD 25. This new edition substitutes the previous ENC (GB500819) for Galle harbour produced by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office(UKHO) which contained very old data as far as 1907. This was categorized as very low accuracy data (CATZOC ‘C’) which had a wide array of anomalies also leading to a significant reduction of ships entering to the Galle harbour. However, the timely publication of the new Galle harbour ENC is expected to regain confidence of the mariners, also ensuring safety of life at sea as envisioned in the SOLAS Convention 1979. The new Galle ENC is produced as part of the ENC production plan of the SLNHO which initially focused on Harbour ENCs and harbour approaches ENCs which will subsequently be directed towards deeper waters around Sri Lanka. As per data available at the Information Fusion Center (IFC), Colombo, approximately 40,000 ships had traversed through the southern waters off Sri Lanka in 2023. This new edition shall surely increase the revenue generated through the SLNHO for the national coffer.

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