Since
its establishment in 1955, the South African Navy
Hydrographic Office (SANHO) has played an essential role
in supporting safe navigation at sea in the South
African region. The SANHO is recognized as the Centre of
Hydrographic excellence in Africa by the International
Hydrographic Community through its proven professional
conduct, products, innovation and supreme service.
The
SANHO is the national producer of paper charts,
electronic navigational charts (ENCs) and publications,
with a folio of 102 paper charts, 55 ENCs and 9
publications. The mission of the SANHO is to meet
National, Defence and Commercial customers' needs for
navigational charts and other hydrographic information,
in support of safe navigation.
SANHO
Products are sold nationally and internationally through
a network of Distributors. See List of Chart Agents in
the Chart Catalogue (SANHO-3) for details of
official Agents selling paper charts and publications.
Official South African ENC products (in S57 digital
format) are available to commercial users through the
Value Added Resellers (VARs) of the
International Centre for ENCs (IC-ENC).
The
SANHO is based at Tokai, Cape Town, and currently
employs 24 permanent staff,
most of whom are non-uniform members of the national
Defence Force, and comprises of five Sections, namely
·
Paper
Charting;
·
Electronic Navigation Charting;
·
Tidal;
·
Maritime Safety Information and Nautical Publications;
and
·
Detached
Survey Operations and Survey Training.
