Each new ENC unit will henceforth be approximately equivalent to a paper chart, making electronic versions easier to buy, use and manage.

Standardisation will also provide considerable benefits for mariners using ENC's in conjunction with either paper charts or the Admiralty Raster Chart Service (ARCS).

Corrections for the service, which is now available from all Admiralty distributors, are issued every week at the same time as existing Admiralty Notices to Mariners and ARCS updates.

Updates are initially provided on CD but Hayley Jopson, responsible for development of UKHO digital products, says that a remote update service using both the web and email will be introduced next Spring.

Initially, all ENC's within the Admiralty ENC Service are being sourced from the International Centre for ENC's (IC-ENC), a regional co-ordinating centre operated by the Tauntonbased UKHO on behalf of Hydrographic Office member nations.

Quoted prices for the new units for shipping companies operating in European waters vary from country to country to reflect variations in those set by individual nations. Inclusive of updates, they are Belgium: £30, Germany: £25, Netherlands:

£26.50, Spain: £30, Portugal:

£25, UK: £30.