The ‘bad news’ is that as of April 13, 2014, the federal government will stop lithographic printing of NOAA’s nautical charts. This is a direct result of the federal government tightening its budget belt across all sectors and departments. The ‘good news’ is that this is not the end of paper nautical charts!
NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey will continue to maintain and update Print-on-Demand (POD) paper nautical charts weekly, to add all of the latest critical chart corrections. The public can purchase paper POD nautical charts at their convenience. Most non-government customers have already switched to POD for printed charts.
As another option, Coast Survey is offering almost all of NOAA’s thousand nautical charts in a PDF version. The free BookletCharts are 8 ½” x 11” PDFs that can be downloaded and printed at home. The U.S. Coast Pilot is also available in a free PDF version. For these products and other info, go to: www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov.