July

​Some of you may have already seen and read the news announcement on the website regarding the development of a new regional office in Brazil, to be known as IC-ENC Latin America.​ This new office will be developed in partnership with the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN), and will be located in the Niteroi offices of DHN, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The initiative was approved by the IC- ENC Steering Committee following the near-unanimous results of a vote, and now IC-ENC and DHN will begin to develop the new regional office in line with the approved business case.

Mike has now settled back into the team after hosting the IC-ENC International Validation training course, which was held in Wollongong, Australia, from 25th ​May until 5th July. The course was a great success, with even more working relationships built and knowledge shared between nations. It was also a good opportunity to work closely with the IC-ENC Australia team, and in addition ex-IC- ENC Chairman, Rod Nairn, was there to present the certificates to the delegates at the end of the course.


​IC-ENC International Validation training course delegates with Mike Hawes and the IC-ENC Australia team


Weekend day trip to Wollongong Zoo

​​James visited the offices of NOAA to discuss ENC production and validation concepts, before moving on to Mexico City to represent IC-ENC at the IHO’s IRCC7 meeting. WEND matters were discussed and James also formally announced IC- ENC's decision to launch the new regional office in Latin America. James then travelled to Panama City to visit the two ENC producing organizations. James visited the Panama Maritime Authority, who recently joined IC-ENC, to provide guidance on the next stages of ENC production. He then met with the IC- ENC contacts within the Panama Canal Authority, where he was shown the training facilities which have been made available for IC-ENC to deliver its International Validation training course in September. Following the return from this trip, James will be working towards the upcoming MBSHC meeting, which is to be held in Georgia ​between 30th June and 2nd July. He will then be concentrating on the preparation of discussion papers for Steering Committee 16 in September.​

Last week's exchange set, on 26th June, was the largest exchange set of data that IC-ENC has ever validated and released. The exchange set contains a total of 269 files, including 226 updates, 41 new editions, and 2 new cells. This brings the total number of ENCs released by IC-ENC to 5,619. This is a stark contrast to last year, when the average number of ENC files issued per week was 131.​ A big well done to the team for their efforts!​

As part of Kevin's last day in IC-ENC, we had a team building day out at Go Segway. For those of you who are not familiar with a segway, it is a two-wheeled, self-balancing, electric powered vehicle, and is the latest trend in 'green' transportation. During our segway safari tour, we took on obstacles, hills and sharp turns, and it quickly became apparent who was (and who was not!) a natural segway master.​​ All in all, it was a great experience, and it was a good opportunity for the team to relax, enjoy themselves, and have a good laugh together.

IC-ENC team building day at Go Segway


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