The BSH was formed in July 1990 from the then German Hydrographic Institute and the Federal Board for Tonnage Measurement, with the aim of centralising maritime responsibilities under a single authority. Soon afterwards, when Germany was reunited in October 1990, the geographical range of BSH widened eastwards with the incorporation of the Hydrographic Service of the then GDR. Since then, BSH has had two main offices in Hamburg and in Rostock.

Hydrography is understood in Germany in its widest possible sense, covering traditional hydrography, oceanography, marine geology and geophysics as well as marine chemistry. Marine services such as a tidal and storm surge warning service, an ice warning service and the German Oceanographic Data Centre are also offered under the banner of ‘hydro-graphy’. Apart from shipping, a strong emphasis lies on environmental protection, where BSH is responsible for monitoring the seawater for chemical and radioactive pollutants. Additional responsibilities related to shipping and EEZ-administration make BSH the central maritime authority in Germany that offers a number of synergies across all activities, supported by its fleet of six modern vessels.

One of the main functions of BSH is nautical hydrography, which includes hydrographic surveying and wreck search, nautical charts and nautical publications. The BSH chart portfolio covers all Europe. BSH is also committed to providing official charts for the pleasure boat market. An important achievement is the successful joint venture with Poland on bilingual small craft charts. The remaining parts of the hydrographic department were recently moved from Hamburg to new premises in Rostock, making this the main place in Germany for hydrography.

For a fully digital hydrographic service it is necessary to integrate the work-flows from surveying at sea with paper products, ENCs, Electronic Sailing Directions and specialised digital products. The core of this database network is to be the Nautical Hydrographic Information System (NAUTHIS), an S-57-based GIS. Realising the growing strategic importance of digital geographic information, BSH is preparing itself to connect all its marine GIS databases to a marine geodata hub linked to the evolving geodata infrastructure in Germany.

With hydrography and navigation systems closely linked and brought under one roof, BSH has longstanding experience in the development and application of both the data and the technical standards for ECDIS. This has made BSH one of the protagonists of ECDIS in the world, and the world-leading agency in type approving ECDIS. BSH is strongly committed to the IHO WEND concept. It is feared, however, that the IHO will lose it role as a ‘competent organisation’ referred to by the SOLAS Convention if it does not soon accomplish combining the fragmented and diverse official ECDIS data services of IHO member states into a seamless service that meets the requirements of shipping.