SHOM removes facsimiles from UK charts

With the latest update of the SHOM the 16 September, 2021,Geogarage announces the removal of 18 facsimile charts from British charts covering, mainly, the south coast of England and Gibraltar. These areas are now only covered by the British Admiralty portfolio. (UKHO).

Indeed, SHOM recently announced (¹) rationalization of its catalog of nautical charts, onwards September 2021, by the deletion of many foreign charts reproduced under historical reciprocity agreements with some foreign hydrographic services.

In this document (¹), we learn there :

Faced with the changing needs of its civilian and military customers and the generalization of ENCs (Electronic Navigational Charts), SHOM has decided to rationalize its portfolio of charts in foreign waters, mainly reproduced in facsimile (foreign charts reproduced in the French portfolio).

[…]

September to December 2021, SHOM will proceed with a major development of its portfolio, namely :
– The deletion of 194 French nautical charts (mainly facsimiles);
– The introduction of 180 charts in the complementary portfolio.

[…]

This immediately results in, with this latest update for English Channel navigation with Weather4D R&N and SailGrib WR, the obligation to subscribe from now on to the UKHO catalog to approach the English coasts. Finally, when more favorable conditions return…

That this decision was taken for reasons of technical rationalization, budget restriction, of Brexit, or a bit of all of that, the result is there. And I urge subscribed users to Geogarage to check the availability of detailed charts in the interactive catalog of their platform.

Channel – new SHOM coverage (Source Geogarage)

Channel – UKHO coverage (Source Geogarage)

–––
(¹) SHOM – Communication rationalization v1.1
–––
Related article :
The S-100 standard for ENC charts is quickly evolving [Update]
–––