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. Some of these goals are medium to long term. Results given are national annual averages.

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 2010-2011.

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.
• BSB updates (file replacement) are issued monthly.

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 four Catalogues of Nautical Charts and Publications are updated and published every two years.

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 and transmitting tidal prediction 95% of the time.
• The phone service for Water Level Observations for the St. Lawrence and Tidal prediction for selected ports in Canada (1-877-775-0790) is accessible and transmitting tidal prediction 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.

Sailing Directions:

• New editions (NE) of Sailing Directions will be issued before number of corrections reach 200 per booklet.
• New editions (NE) of Sailing Directions will be issued before they reach 10 years old.

Sales & Distribution:

• Orders are shipped to Authorized CHS Chart Dealers within five business days of receipt of the order 95% of the time.
• Service client requests for technical support issued is resolved within 4 working days, 95% of the time.

Measuring Our Results:

Each year we review our work and measure how well we met our Levels of Service. For 2009-2010, 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