Norway Signs Agreement with JHA

The Norwegian Hydrographic Service (NHS), operator of the Primar Stavanger electronic navigational chart (ENC) service, has signed a distribution agreement for Japanese ENCs with the Japan Hydrographic Association (JHA). Japan has full coverage of ENCs in usage bands from harbor to general. In addition, oceans around the country are covered with ENCs in overview scales. In total close to 600 ENCs, the Japanese coverage spans from Indonesia in the south to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the north, North Korea in the west and the Pacific as far as Hawaii in the east. The Pacific ENCs meet seamlessly with the American NOAA ENCs, also available from Primar Stavanger.In addition, Primar Stavanger will be able to distribute ENCs of the Malacca and Singapore Straits under this agreement. Dr Hideo Nishida, executive director of the JHA, says he is looking forward to this important cooperation with Norway. Spreading ENCs to all parts of the world via efficient and secure distribution mechanisms is essential for the safety of navigation and the progress of paperless navigation. All ENCs from Japan will be available together with the rest of Primar Stavanger’s comprehensive coverage through tools such as the Primar Chart Catalogue and the Primar Online service. Under the agreement, the JHA and the NHS will also benefit from sharing their expertise on quality, security and distribution mechanisms. This cooperation will create synergies which further enhance the safety of navigation at sea.