Standard Nautical Charts
The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) produces an unrivalled series of over
3,300 Standard Nautical Charts which meet the requirements of professional, commercial
and recreational navigation in accordance with SOLAS regulations, ensuring safe
navigation at sea.
Admiralty Standard Nautical Charts are produced in a range of scales for safe ocean
navigation covering passage planning, harbours and nautical hazards, anchorages,
coastal and offshore navigation.
To ensure safe navigation, it is recommended that mariners always use nautical charts
of the largest appropriate scale. In particularly busy seaways such as The English
Channel, Gulf of Suez and the Malacca and Singapore Straits, the Admiralty SNC series
is supplemented by Mariners Routeing Guides which advise on route planning and all
necessary regulations appropriate to the area of navigation.
Admiralty Notices to Mariners, weekly editions, contain information which enables
the mariner to keep his charts and books published by UKHO up-to-date for the latest
reports received. New editions and new charts are listed in advance in Weekly Notices
to Mariners in booklet format and via the website.
Thematic Charts
Specialist charts in series which can be used to supplement the Standard Nautical
charts.
Load Line Regulations
Merchant Shipping (Load Line) Regulations cover the draught to which vessels subject
to SOLAS regulations may be loaded in designated zones across the world. The Load
Line Chart (D6083) reflects changes made in the 1998 Merchant Shipping Regulations
and includes the latest designated zones and seasonal periods relating to Load Line
Rules.
Admiralty Routeing Guides
These charts provide important Passage Planning information in addition to details
of Traffic Separation Schemes for the major shipping areas of the English Channel,
North Sea, Gulf of Suez, Malacca and Singapore Straits.
Planning Charts
These charts are ideal as planning tools and can also be used for educational, travel
and decorative purposes. They are a series of small scale charts covering all significant
ports worldwide that are available in various scales.
Co-Tidal Charts
Co-Tidal Charts and Co-Range Charts are used primarily to predict offshore tidal
conditions.
Astronomical Charts
Astronomical Charts, as used for traditional navigation, facilitate the accurate
plotting of a ship's position from Astronomical observations.
Gnomonic Charts
These charts are used in Passage Planning to plot great circle routes as a straight
line. They are useful for devising composite rhumb line courses. Fifteen charts
cover the world at scales of 1:13,500,000 and 1:26,500,000.
Magnetic Variation Charts
These charts show the variation of Magnetic Fields. Whilst local information is
shown on all charts, this series provides more detailed coverage on a worldwide
level.
Meteorological Charts and Diagrams
These charts form a series of 27 Meteorological working charts.