The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany (, BSH) is a German federal authority based in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

. With some 800 employees, the agency's tasks include

maritime safety Maritime safety as part of and overlapping with water safety is concerned with the protection of life ( search and rescue) and property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to th ...

, hydrographic survey, maritime pollution monitoring, and approvals of offshore installations.

History

The agency can be traced back to ''Norddeutsche Seewarte'' (North German Naval Observatory), founded in 1867 by Wilhelm von Freeden, which issued individual sailing directions based on nautical and meteorological observations as early as 1868. After World War II, the Deutsches Hydrographisches Institut (DHI) erman Hydrographical Institutewas founded in 1945 and took over these tasks. While it was first active throughout all four zones of

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

, operations in the Soviet zone ceased when the DHI became part of the Western Allies' unified zone which was to become the state of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. After the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

of 1990, the DHI was merged with ''Bundesamt für Schiffsvermessung (BAS)'' ederal Agency for Tonnage Measurement">Tonnage.html" ;"title="ederal Agency for Tonnage">ederal Agency for Tonnage Measurementto form the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency. At the same time, the '' Seehydrographischer Dienst'' [Maritime Hydrographical Service] of East Germany which was part of the Volksmarine, People's Navy was taken over.

Tasks

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency provides maritime services for shipping, economy and marine environment. It is a federal agency within the portfolio of the

Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure The Federal Ministry for Transport (, ; abbreviated BMV) is a German Cabinet, cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is located in Berlin, while the majority of its civil servants and employees work in Bonn, ...

. The various tasks include: *Facilitation of the German merchant marine, *Tonnage measurement and matter related to

flags of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) refers to a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag ...

, *Issue of certificates for sailors, *Testing and approval of navigational and radio equipment, *Maritime hazard control, *Issue of official

nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...

s, handbooks and other nautical publications such as notice to mariners for professional and recreational shipping, *

Bathymetry Bathymetry (; ) is the study of underwater depth of ocean floors ('' seabed topography''), river floors, or lake floors. In other words, bathymetry is the underwater equivalent to hypsometry or topography. The first recorded evidence of wate ...

of North Sea and Baltic Sea, *Calculation and forecasts of

tide table Tide tables, sometimes called tide charts, are used for tidal prediction and show the daily times and levels of high and low tides, usually for a particular location. Tide heights at intermediate times (between high and low water) can be approxi ...

water level Water level, also known as gauge height or stage, is the elevation of the free surface of a sea, stream, lake or reservoir relative to a specified vertical datum. Over long distances, neglecting external forcings (such as wind), water level ten ...

s and

storm tide A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s, *Monitoring of the marine environment which includes the operation of several fixed automated stations, *Investigation of environmental pollution at sea, *Maritime

spatial planning Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the th ...

for the

exclusive economic zone An exclusive economic zone (EEZ), as prescribed by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is an area of the sea in which a sovereign state has exclusive rights regarding the exploration and use of marine natural resource, reso ...

(EEZ) of Germany, *Approval of commercial offshore activities like wind farming, pipelines or

submarine communications cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the seabed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables were laid beginning in the 1850s and car ...

s in the German EEZ of North Sea and Baltic. The agency is moreover represented in a number of national and international panels. The head office of

Federal Bureau for Maritime Casualty Investigation The Federal Bureau for Maritime Casualty Investigation (, BSU) is the German agency for investigating maritime accidents and incidents. It is subordinate to the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. Its head office is in th ...

is in the BSH facility.

Vessels

The Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency maintains a fleet of five survey vessels as of 2013. ''Atair'' is expected to be replaced in 2020 by a new vessel, also named ''Atair''. *''Atair'', based in Hamburg *''Deneb'', based in Rostock *''Wega'', based in Hamburg *''Capella'', based in Hamburg *''Komet'', based in Hamburg

Messages in bottles

According to its own accounts, the BSH's library hosts the world's largest known collection of messages in a bottle amounting to 660 items.

References

External links

*
BSH ENC Charts Viewer
{{Authority control Maritime transport authorities German federal agencies Water transport in Germany 1868 establishments in the North German Confederation Organisations based in Hamburg Rostock National hydrographic offices