- Navy
- Hydrographic Service
About Hydrographic Service
The main tasks of the Netherlands Hydrographic Service are to chart the sea, to publish the nautical charts and the related hydrographic publications. The area of responsibility concerns the Netherlands Continental Shelf and the waters around Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Aruba.
Two hydrographic vessels, HNLMS Snellius and HNLMS Luymes, conduct surveys on a daily basis to monitor and record shipping lanes and sea bottom changes. Not only changes in depth are registered but also obstructions and wrecks on the sea bottom are investigated and, if necessary, accurately charted.
At the shore-based Hydrographic Office, the collected data, together with other relevant information such as buoys, beacons, lights etc., is stored in a database. The information in this database is the source of all the nautical products. Distribution of all nautical products is organised through a network of agents.
On a national level, the Hydrographic Service cooperates with the North Sea Directorate of the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management as a federation called 'Netherlands Hydrographic Institute' (NHI). Internationally, as a full member of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) in Monaco, the service cooperates with all other Hydrographic Services in the world.
Additionally, the Hydrographic Office makes its knowledge and expertise available to support naval operations in the fields of hydrography, oceanography, meteorology, positioning, tides and marine geodesy.
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