As a consequence of Lithuania’s new membership in IHO, the Baltic Sea Hydrographic Commission had the pleasure to welcome Lithuania as a full Member of BSHC during its 30th meeting in Riga, Latvia, 23 – 24 September 2025.
Deputy Director Tomas Kolendo at the Lithuanian Transport Safety Administration, signed the BSHC statutes with the Chair of the BSHC, Jānis Krastiņš, Director at Maritime Administration of Latvia.
At the end of meeting Deputy Director Tomas Kolendo was elected as the new BSHC Chair. The National Hydrographer of Germany, Thomas Dehling, was elected as the BSHC Vice-Chair.
Former Chair of BSHC, Olavi Heinlo from Estland and present Chair of BSHC, Jānis Krastiņš from Latvia. Picture from BSHC29 meeting in Tallinn.
First Baltic Sea Strategic Correspondence Group Meeting
On the 15th of March 2023 the BSHC MS at HO management level had a strategic meeting to secure that BSHC is working in accordance with the IHO Strategic Plan. In November 2022 IMO agreed upon the S-100 standard for the next generation of navigational products. BSHC needs to make certain the these new S-100 products are implemented in a coordinated and harmonized way in the Baltic Sea, respecting the IMO time table. The Strategic Correspondence Group discussed how the BSHC Working Groups could be tasked to take responsibilities for different parts of this implementation. New Terms of References for relevant Working Groups will be proposed to BSHC including the S-100 scope.
M Wallhagen / Chair of the Baltic Sea Correspondence Group
The image to the right contains a link to a 3:45minute video presentation of the S-100 approach
