DIDI Chart specifications and what you get
Interfaces, chart services, security, connectivity and commercial terms — everything a technical review or a purchasing file needs, in one place.
Onboard unit
- Form factor
- Compact, fanless unit for permanent installation on the bridge.
- Mounting
- Bridge equipment rack, or inside an existing console cabinet beneath the displays.
- Dimensions and weight
- 135 × 115 × 55 mm.
- Power
- 10–30 V DC, 2 A maximum.
- Installation
- Plug and play. No technician, no bridge refit, no downtime, no equipment taken out of service.
ECDIS interface
- Compatibility
- Vendor-agnostic. Works with all major ECDIS systems, any make or model.
- Provisioning method
- An independent, isolated USB storage interface that onboard systems recognise natively.
- Changes to the ECDIS
- None. No software is installed on the ECDIS and no hardware is modified.
- Crew control
- The unit never writes to the ECDIS or installs charts itself. It makes them available, and the crew decides what is installed and when.
- USB kill switch
- Optional accessory. Disconnects the onboard unit from the ECDIS electronically whenever required.
- Effect on type approval
- None. Updates arrive through the standard interface the ECDIS already uses for chart data.
Chart services and coverage
- Services supported
- ADMIRALTY AVCS ENCs, through whichever chart supplier you already hold your licences with.
- Coverage
- Worldwide.
- Update cycle
- Weekly ENC updates, collected and prepared automatically.
- Permits
- Automated. New and renewed cell permits are collected and applied with the update — no manual import on board.
- Portfolio retention
- Your full base portfolio and the latest updates are held on the onboard unit, so an ECDIS that has lost its charts can be rebuilt in full on board — even at sea, with no connection.
- Data handling
- Official supplier data is delivered exactly as issued. Content is never altered.
Connectivity
- Direction
- Outbound only, initiated from the vessel. No inbound path and no open ports on board.
- Link tolerance
- Built for intermittent and low-bandwidth satellite links. Interrupted transfers resume rather than restart.
- Minimum bandwidth
- None. Worked through on a 100 MB update: roughly 30 minutes on a 0.5 Mbit/s link, about 15 minutes at 1 Mbit/s, and under two minutes at 10 Mbit/s or better. The transfer runs in the background and resumes after a drop, so a slow link delays an update rather than preventing it.
- ECDIS internet access
- Not required at any point. The ECDIS never goes online.
Security and integrity
- SecureReceive
- The verification stage every file passes through: hash-validated twice against the supplier's published values — once in the cloud, once again locally on board — with nothing offered to the ECDIS until both checks agree.
- Encryption in transit
- TLS 1.3.
- Architecture
- Zero Trust, with firewall isolation between the shore service and the vessel.
- Network separation
- Two separate network interfaces on the onboard unit.
- Access control
- Identity-based access to the shore service and dashboard.
- Failure behaviour
- A partial or unverified update is never presented to the ECDIS. If the unit fails, the ECDIS keeps every chart it already holds, navigation is unaffected, and the usual USB route still works until the unit is replaced. A dual setup with two onboard units is available for redundancy.
Shore dashboard
- Access
- Browser-based on desktop, tablet or phone. No app and no client software to install.
- Fleet view
- Per-vessel status — update received, verified, and available to the ECDIS — plus fleet-wide status and pending vessels.
- Records
- Every update logged with date, vessel and result.
Commercial terms
- Price
- €70 per vessel, per month.
- Trial
- First month free on one vessel — the same unit and the same weekly updates, with nothing to commit to.
- Fleet orders
- From five vessels, 10% off the per-vessel price, with one invoice and one rollout plan across the ships you choose.
- Chart licences
- Unchanged. You keep your chart supplier and your existing ENC licences — DIDI Chart changes how the data arrives, not who you buy it from. If you do not have a supplier, we can supply the charts too.
- Installation cost
- No yard time, no bridge refit and nothing taken out of service — about an hour of an engineer's attention.
Want these figures against your own vessels, satellite links and chart licences? Ask us and you will get the numbers for your setup, not a range.
Where DIDI Chart helps you demonstrate compliance
Every regime below asks an operator to show a controlled, evidenced path for data entering a safety-critical system. DIDI Chart is not itself an approval — what it provides is that isolation and that record.
IMO MSC.428(98)
Asks for Cyber risk must sit in your safety management system, and it is checked at every DOC verification. Manual ENC updating over removable media is a classic audit finding.
DIDI Chart Replaces it with an automated, verified path — and the answer to the auditor is in the dashboard rather than a folder.
EU NIS2 · Directive 2022/2555
Asks for Maritime transport is in scope and management is personally liable. Requires supply chain security and measures for data integrity.
DIDI Chart ENC data comes from external suppliers; every file is verified on receipt and again before the ECDIS. The fleet view gives management the oversight NIS2 assumes.
BIMCO Cyber Security Clause
Asks for Increasingly written into charter and operating contracts: reasonable cyber measures, provable to the counterparty.
DIDI Chart A measure you can name, with an evidence trail behind it. It protects charter-ability, not just the network.
OCIMF TMSA 3 · Element 13
Asks for Vetting-relevant in the tanker segment. A self-assessment with KPI stages, where a weak Element 13 can affect charter-ability.
DIDI Chart A documentable technical measure for navigation data, with continuous monitoring behind it.
ISM Code and your SMS
Asks for Procedures for safety-critical routines, kept current and evidenced.
DIDI Chart Chart updating becomes an automated procedure with its own evidence trail, instead of a manual one that depends on crew logs being kept up.
IACS UR E26 / E27
Asks for Cyber resilience of onboard systems and networks, mandatory for newbuilds from the applicable contract date.
DIDI Chart Supports a network design in which the ECDIS has no inbound path and no direct internet exposure. Applicability depends on your vessel’s contract date — confirm with your class society.
DIDI Chart is a documented technical measure for navigation data. It supports these obligations; it does not by itself make an operator compliant, and it is not a certification.
Want the mechanism rather than the numbers? How a chart update reaches your ECDIS walks through all six stages.
Send us your ECDIS make and fleet size.
A maritime engineer confirms fit, the figures marked on request, and a non-intrusive rollout — no sales script.