The nations concerned are Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden.

The organisation points out that there is still considerable confusion about the difference between ENC's and other official as well as unofficial chart services.

It adds that the reluctance of many shipowners to take advantage of a new and better chart service can best be overcome by allowing them to test it for a time. Many more potential users, it says, will then appreciate the benefits of moving from other raster and vector services to ENC's.

The free trial offer follows Primar's recent revised pricing for ENC's aimed primarily at users with short-term chart requirements. The cost of a large ENC, including weekly updates for one year, is now $24. This in turn reduces to $12 for a corresponding six-month subscription.

Further details on the trial offer are available via Primar's official website www.primar-stavanger.org