Welcome to American Nautical Services

We are pleased to have you check us out in the hope that you will bookmark this site and use it in practical ways to facilitate the operation of your business.

ABOUT US: American Nautical Services, Inc. (ANS) is a twenty-five-year-old multi-profile, 2-division, service company committed to excellence within the Marine Industry. ANS is located in the heart of the business district of downtown Miami, FL. This location places us across the street from the entrance to the Port of Miami, and six miles from Miami International Airport. These ports are centrally located in the Americas and act as a central hub for product distribution throughout the Americas.

Retail / Commercial Division: The retail/commercial division of the company operates under the trade name NAVIGATION CENTER. The Navigation Center exists as both an Internet and walk-in, point-of-purchase purveyor of multi-media navigation materials and related goods.

The website was built for the primary purpose of facilitating both retail and commercial (business-to-business) customers through direct Internet sales. The Navigation Center operates as a "World Class" nautical chart distributor and clearinghouse of marine technical information. The term "World Class" places the Navigation Center in the ranks of the few global navigation supply companies that offer the following support service profile:

Chart agents/ distributors for: BA, NIMA and NOAA
International Admiralty Chart Agent (IACA) status
Full World coverage of U.S. and British paper charts
Stocking distributors of marine publications for: ABS, BA, BS&F, CMP, GPO, HMSO, IMO, ISCOT, ISF, ITU, LLP MET, NFPA, NI, NIP, NIMA, NOAA and OCIMF
Stocking distributor of marine electronic charts for: BA, C-MAP, MAPTECH and NAVIONICS
Full Internet access to 17,000 + line item inventory of goods
Automatic Distribution Service for supply of nautical charts, publications and Notice To Mariners to commercial vessels and recreational yachts
Notice To Mariner / chart correction update service
Global shipping services via FEDX and UPS
Marine information support system via industry links and e-mail support

Victor Mills is the Retail/ Commercial Division Manager.

What makes our site different? First; ANS management is unique in its personnel profile. Mr. Ed Hays, President and Mr. Dave Gossett, Retail / Commercial Division Manager bring a total of 45 years of commercial maritime experience to ANS.

Second; ANS management is committed to excellence in providing the best service possible to users of our site. With website design serving at the foundation for customer service, we offer 1) the functionality of our site, 2) site security, and 3) order fulfillment as the structure or vehicle for delivery of the high quality service that is expected by our customers.

This site has been designed and built to be highly functional in practical terms. The best example of our commitment to functionality is SPICA™, our fully interactive dynamic chart catalogs program. Our on-line catalogs represent a marked difference in the way other sites function or don't function as the case may be. Not only did we develop the catalogs at our cost, but also we offer them to each site user for FREE. The functionality of chart selection has been enhanced and integrated with the user's shopping cart so that multiple selections can be made within contextual terms in a given catalog. With ONE CLICK, all selected charts are sent to the cart at one time thus eliminating a lot of back and forth aggravation for the user.

We are looking forward to bringing our service to your fingertips through this site.

How our site is organized: This site is extremely dynamic with many links within it to aid the user in moving quickly to areas of interest including help, definition of terms and contextual site related cross-reference of subject matter. The site also includes many links to other sites outside of it thought to be complementary to the user's interest and always within contextual terms of the reference point of the site.

This site has been organized to facilitate the interests of both retail customers and commercial trade customers (B-2-B) with streamlined functional differences for each type of customer built into the site.

Overview: The site offers traditional subject buttons across the top header and along the left margin.

Each quadrant contains an independent special interest subject(s) that is self-defined and self-supporting in functionalism. The four quadrants are:

Trading terms and company policy have been clearly identified and set apart under label-specific buttons located at the bottom of the Home Page e.g., see "Terms and Conditions" and "Policy."

FAQ: provides answers to common questions about the polices and practices of ANS as they may apply to the operation of the site.

CONTACT US: provides direct e-mail access to real people on staff with ANS. The designated individuals at ANS are willing and able to either provide help to those requesting it or to act as a good listener to those that wish to provide feedback and recommendations concerning the site and its use.

INDUSTRY LINKS: represents our attempt to provide the site user with a practical tool to research the various aspects of the marine industry. Our marine survey division has provided a lot of input into this section of the site with the understanding that the surveyors use the links on a regular basis to facilitate their research. Website addresses are constantly changing for different reasons, thus we routinely review and update this section of the site to fix broken or non-functional links. We invite users to send us recommendations for upgrading this section with additional links (sites) that may be of interest to our site users. All referrals should be sent to webmaster@amnautical.com

PRODUCT (SUPER) SEARCH: this function comes in the form of a port or window located at the top center of each screen on the site. Thus a user can, at any time, make a direct entry search for a specific product. We are extremely pleased to report that direct entry port connects to a multi-level search program that will provide (display) all items with the product description entered. Thus the user does not need to know the exact name or product ID code to find what he is looking for. Rather, closest matches are displayed in a running list for review and consideration.

ART: is in the eye of the beholder. Here at NAVIGATION CENTER, we have a great appreciation for marine art. We began collecting and trading in limited edition lithographs many years ago and have developed a deep appreciation for the artists ability to capture both the beauty and unforgiving nature of the sea as well as man's appetite and love affair with its majesty. This section of the site has been kept relatively small as we begin to display some of the many pieces available for purchase. We are attempting to experiment with how to best represent or display the art on the Internet at this time but anticipate that this section will change and grow in the future. We again invite your response to this section with recommendations and referrals always welcome.

BOOKS Our inventory of marine books stems from a combination of sources including; government(s), regulator bodies, trade and technical organizations and private publishers. The user may use this button key to enter the arena of “BOOKS” and search by either “subject” on a generic basis or as a function of “publisher – subject” on a more restricted basis. Of course, the user always has the option of using the Product (Super) Search porthole at the top of every screen page at any time to generate a list of closest matches to a description (title) of the desired book.

CHARTS represent over half our business and are taken very seriously at NAVIGATION CENTER. Traditionally, charts only came in paper form and were sold through the use of a paper catalog otherwise used to determine which charts were needed for a particular voyage or to establish safe routing within a trading area.

Paper Chart Sales: Internet users have found that Internet sites have lacked the ability to display the traditional paper chart catalogs of the governments that produce the charts they want. We are proud to offer our site users, SPICA™, which is our answer to this dilemma. SPICA™ is an Internet based engine generator program that was created for depiction of all U.S. and British paper charts consistent with their respective global inventory suites of nautical charts. SPICA™ was funded and directed by NAVIGATION CENTER. Thus it is a privately produced Internet vehicle intended for the exclusive viewing by users of our website. SPICA™ eliminates the need to dispatch paper chart catalogs to those responsible for selecting and/or procuring nautical charts. Use of SPICA™ is FREE to all site users via the NAVIGATION CENTER site. Users will find SPICA™ extremely functional and familiar given the fact that it was built to emulate the U.S. and British catalogs used by navigators around the world. Multiple chart selections may be made on a given page of the display and sent to the user's shopping cart with a single click of the button. Thus the functionalism of a single click multi-line item purchase has been brought to our site.

Electronic Chart Sales: The full style inventory of the four leading U.S. electronic chart manufacturers has been integrated into our site. Users should search for desired product by first selecting the manufacturer of choice in this arena. Don't forget that use of the Product (Super) Search porthole is always an option for direct entry product searches on each screen.

SPICA™: SPICA™ is an Internet based engine generator program that was created for depiction of all U.S. and British paper charts consistent with their respective global inventory suites of nautical charts.

FLAGS: Flags for all maritime countries of the world are held in inventory at the NAVIGATION CENTER. Sizes range from 12” by 18” courtesy flags to 3’ x 5’ merchant flags. We have larger flags for selected countries and U.S. flags as large as a user may want.

INSTRUMENTS: Mariners have always relied on a variety of instruments to assist with safe navigation. Traditionally, the marine sextant was the tool used to navigate the heavens where now GPS or SATNAV electronic units have combined with global satellites to provide automated celestial positioning.

The NAVIGATION CENTER inventories a wide variety of traditional marine instruments available for direct purchase via this site. We also offer full support of electronic charting in its varied forms function specific to the four leading electronic chart manufactures in the U.S. We act as a distributor for various marine software companies and sell specialty software programs for industry use.

We are not a marine electronic wholesaler or purveyor of electronic marine hardware. We do work with marine electronic hardware distributors in order to provide end users with the very best in state of the art marine electronic navigation systems.

SHIPS STORE: Marine gifts are always a sought after commodity by old salts and landlubbers who just love the allure of the sea. Our Ship’s Store has set sail on a never ending voyage of the Internet with ports of call numbering the names set forth on the finger prints of those brave souls that click on our bounty of product offerings. Give it a shot and check out the store. It is perfect for selecting that gift you need for that special someone. Crack the whip with a click of the finger and we’ll heave to so that your orders are obeyed and carried out with dispatch.

VALUE ADDED SERVICES; is a term that has come forth from the European Union (EU). It is a concept of identifying and giving value to the work and effort imbued to a product or service that has made it better and more useful to the end user. We at NAVIGATION CENTER are hopeful that each user of this site will find our efforts to build functionalism and scope into this site a value added service. Notwithstanding our desire to build a better site, our goal has been to emulate the full style of our International Admiralty Chart Agent (IACA) status with the British Admiralty; and to offer ship owners/ operators assistance in lifting the burden of compliance with recent changes in IMO - ISM requirements for safe watch keeping/ navigation of a vessel. Thus, the NAVIGATION CENTER offers the following Value Added Services to you:

POLARIS™ - POLARIS™ is our Automatic Distribution Service
SPICA™ - SPICA™ is our Dynamic Chart Catalog generator
GEMINI™ - GEMINI™ is our twin quality assurance program that deals with issues associated with the management of navigation materials.The two aspects of the program include:
- Chart and Publication Correction Service -
- Compliance Review of ISM Navigation Standards -

We recommend that anyone interested in any or all of these services contact Mr. Hays at sales@amnautical.com.

HOW TO ORDER; contains details relevant to ordering protocol with some explanation as to how the site is organized.

WELCOME; serves as a general introduction to the site with a complete recap of all site buttons and entry ports.

BUSINESS-2-BUSINESS; is a porthole into the commercial world of inter-business relationships whereby NAVIGATION CENTER becomes a source purveyor of navigation supplies to a commercial interest who demonstrates the buying power to command a discount program tailored to the buying profile of the business and the ability to pay for the goods and services provided by NAVIGATION CENTER through the terms and conditions of the program. Companies interested in pursuing a B-2-B relationship with NAVIGATION CENTER should contact Mr. Gossett at sales@amnautical.com.

CLOSEOUT LIQUIDATIONS; is the designated location on the Home Page where we place items on close-out or discontinued status.

ON SALE; is the first place a user should check on the site. A click of this button will bring up all items on sale that day. Various items within our inventory will be routinely selected for price reduction for an interim period of time (generally 5 to 10 business days). The items selected may represent 1) a pre-publication sale for an up-coming release of an industry standard publication, 2) items selected by their respective manufacturer for promotion, 3) newly released items that we made large volume (quantity) purchases.

NOTE: [B-2-B customers will enjoy sale pricing for any and all items ordered in the event that the sale price for an item is lower than their discounted price and the purchase is made of a given item during the sale period.]

COMING SOON; should be checked by all industry professionals (1) who want to remain in full compliance with international and domestic regulations, (2) who pride themselves in maintaining safety at the forefront of their day-to-day activities, and/or (3) who want to have the newest products at their fingertips for the benefit of their work performance.

WEATHER: We have intergraded a “weather port” or window through which a user may obtain local and regional weather for all major and most intermediate size cities in the world. U.S. zip codes may be used for any location within the U.S.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Trade works best when everyone knows the rules and follows them. We have attempted to establish simple but direct trading terms that will work in a global business environment. Review of these terms and conditions is highly recommended prior to placing any orders with us. We at NAVIGATION CENTER want all users to understand the practical limits of our responsibility to them and the limits of their responsibility to us. Terms and Conditions represent the legalism of the site. NOTE: [The FAQ button contains policy statements that render a softer side of how we make this site work for the user. We encourage all users to read the FAQ section, which includes a full discourse on shipping policies.]

PRIVACY POLICY: Most of us today are concerned about our privacy, thus we have separated this area of concern and elevated it to having its own area button. We encourage each user to review the privacy policy stated by clicking on this button.

THAWTE; is the third party security shield selected by NAVIGATION CENTER to provide both the user and NAVIGATION CENTER the security we each need to conduct our business over the Internet. We believe that THAWTE's reputation within the world of the Internet stands on its own merit and serves to bring integrity to our site.