New NOAA Chart Aids Alaska Cruise Ships

ST. PAUL, Minn. – June 19, 2007
Charting Alaska's Columbia Glacier area

OceanGrafix, the first company to offer print-on-demand nautical charts, announced today that its charts now reflect recent NOAA changes charting the water near the rapidly receding Columbia Glacier in Alaska.

Located within Prince William Sound, Columbia Glacier is the world’s fastest moving glacier, retreating at a speed of 80 to 115 feet each day. Not surprisingly, tourists aboard cruise ships are eager to see Columbia Glacier. “Cruise ships like to get as close as possible to the glacier, but they’ve been doing so with some risk because the bottom was uncharted,” explains Richard Sillcox, chief of chart update service at NOAA. “The updated chart provides ships and vessels with a much more accurate picture of the water in front of Columbia Glacier.”

"In addition to state ferries and cruise vessels, recreational vessels operate in the waters near the glacier,” adds Captain Ed Page, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Alaska. “Our mission is to provide information that helps ensure the safe navigation of these vessels and this updated chart, which is far more accurate, will aid safe maritime operations in this area."

Columbia Glacier has receded more than six miles since 1982 and is expected to retreat another nine miles in the next 15 to 20 years. The glacier is currently 34 miles long, three miles wide and more than 3,000 feet thick in some places. Many ships and boats idle for hours at the mouth of the glacier so passengers can watch as it calves icebergs. These enormous chunks of ice—reportedly the sizes of office buildings—routinely fall into the sea with an incredible roar. The resulting turbulence lifts fish to the surface, and animals such as seabirds, seals and sea otters take advantage of the situation.

The new chart (#16713, edition 3) is available immediately through the Marine Exchange of Alaska (mxak.org) and other OceanGrafix agents.

St. Paul, Minnesota-based OceanGrafix is the first company to offer print-on-demand nautical charts for recreational and commercial boaters. Working in partnership with NOAA, the company ensures the most accurate information available is reflected on its charts.