Our Levels of Service

The Canadian Hydrographic Service has a strong service commitment. We publish and maintain nearly a thousand nautical charts. 

We have clearly defined Levels of Service and each year we review how well we are meeting our commitments.

We strive to balance providing our clients with up-to-date and accurate navigational information with the resources CHS has to meet these needs.  We have classified the areas our charts cover by risk – high, medium and low – with the high-risk areas receiving more of our resources and more frequent updates.  Many factors are considered in our risk assessments such as the number of accidents in a given area, tanker routes, traffic, infrastructure, navigational complexity, and more.

• Find out about the risk designations in your region.
• LOS Results 2009-2010.

Our ongoing goal is to meet the following Levels of Service:

Critical information:

• Notices to Mariners updates are issued within four months of CHS receiving source information.
• Patches are available on the Notices to Mariners web site within five months once production commences.
• ENC update messages and Notices to Mariners are synchronized within one month.

Charts:

• High-risk charts (paper, ENC, raster) are reviewed at least once every five years and new editions are issued when necessary.
• Medium-risk charts are reviewed at least once every ten years and new editions are issued when necessary.
• Low-risk charts are generally updated through "Notices to Mariners" only.
• The release of new editions (ENCs and paper charts) is within three months of each other.
• Charts and Publications are always available.
• The web version (Chart 1) in PDF and HTML formats is accessible 95% of the time.
• The risk rating for charts is reviewed annually.

Water Level and Tidal Information:

• Requests for general tidal information are addressed within 30 days 95% of the time.
• The National Tides, Currents and Water Levels web site is accessible 95% of the time.
• The phone service for Water Level Observations for the St. Lawrence and Canadian tidal information (1-877-775-0790) is accessible 95% of the time.
• Tele-announcing service for the Great Lakes real-time water level information will be re-instated within 2 business days of reporting a problem 95% of the time.

Publications:

• Sailing Directions: are always available. All new Sailing Directions editions are digitized and will be available progressively for print on demand delivery in 2009.
• Canadian Tide and Current Tables: are printed yearly, on or before November 30th.
• Four catalogues of Nautical Charts and Publications: are updated and published every two years.
• Interactive Paper Chart catalogue and printable Paper Chart catalogues: in PDF format are accessible via the CHS web site 95% of the time.

Sales & Distribution:

• Orders are shipped to authorized CHS chart dealers within five business days of receipt of the order 95% of the time.

Measuring Our Results:

Each year we review our work and measure how well we met our Levels of Service. For 2008-2009, CHS met most of the targets set out in our Levels of Service. Where we didn't fully meet our commitments, we analysed why and instituted changes to improve our service. If you are interested in seeing the detailed results of our annual reviews, please contact:

Canadian Hydrographic Service
615 Booth Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0E6
Email: chsinfo@dfo-mpo.gc.ca