Technical & Training Report. April 2009

June 25th, 2009 by JCB
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68th Technical & Training  Committee Meeting : 2nd April 2009.

MarNIS  project – the project officially ended in March and Nigel Allen brought along the DVD of the MarNIS concept and how things will/should change. MarNIS should be phased in by 2020. The DVD lasts about 15 minutes and hopefully will be available on our web site soon.

Azipilot project – there has been some contractual problems, mainly due to our association “status”, which prohibits us from being a “full partner”. These contractual problems are presently being resolved. The T&TC will have the same input and remuneration as was agreed some months ago, but we will not have the same glory when the project is completed. Gareth Rees is leading the project and Nigel will act as his deputy.

Nav 55 “Pilot Transfer arrangements” – our input to the revision of A889 and SOLAS V/23 went down very well world wide and a lot of what we are pushing for is on the revised changes we feel are required to make transfer processes safer. Thanks to all the districts that assisted in completing my survey. All incidents and suspect ladders should be reported to your CHA, Port State and also if possible e-mail me a photo and brief resume. We have very few statistics of bad ladders although we know there are many out there.  Nav 55 takes place in July and if all is successful a new resolution could be in place for this December. We hope to be part of the UK government delegation at Nav 55.

Pilot boat survey –There are still some districts who have not returned their boat details. It is important to all that we maintain accurate records which will assist districts in upgrading their boats and safety gear. The information when complete will be available on the web site.

Boarding procedures – there was discussion regarding pilots “clipping on” and the merits and disadvantages of doing so. The code states the following:

“7.3 It is strongly recommended that whilst on deck the deckhand is secured to the pilot boat by an approved method which does not restrict his freedom of movement.”

There is no mention regarding the pilot clipping on and it was felt that this was a personal decision which should be left to each individual pilot. The deckhand is involved in many tasks when on the deck of the pilot boat, and he may not have the luxury of being able to have one hand for himself while he is tending the ladder. His clipping on may also be a requirement under MGN50 for the reduction in crew size. We believe he should always be clipped on but this was changed to “strongly recommended” by other stakeholders in the last review.

One point is on the length of the safety strop – the manufacturers of the Hadrian system do not recommend the standard yacht length 2 meter strop for attachment since this length of strop will result in anybody falling overboard to be suspended at about sea level. On a cutter his legs could come dangerously close to the pilot boat’s propellers or he could get squashed between the pilot boat and the hull of the ship. The manufacturers of the Hadrian system recommend a certified strop of between 500mm and 800mm depending on the height of the rail and the pilot’s height.   I have had great difficulty in sourcing a short strop, but now believe “High Level safety” make them. Their web site: www.highlevelsafety.co.uk

Bridge Resource Management (BRM) & Marine Resource Management(MRM) – Jonathan Mills’ paper was discussed as per the last meeting minutes. This agenda item is now being dealt with by the Section Committee.

One point that I would like to bring to the attention of members is that Liverpool Pilots now conduct a MRM course which has P&I Club approval. I was lucky enough to attend one of the courses and found it very interesting. I believe the 2 day course more than covers the requirements of IMO A960 for pilots. Liverpool pilots must be congratulated for the initiative in developing this course which is a positive step towards “pilot training pilots” which I passionately believe in. For further details contact Dave Williamson at Liverpool pilots.

Personal locator beacons – Some of you may have seen that the 121.5 MHZ satellites’ have been switched off so this will affect your PLB’s. The following is an extract from the “Sea Marshall” web site which should explain.

There is a lot of confusion about 121.5MHz at the moment, the

frequency of 121.5MHz is and will always be the Internationally
Recognised Search And Rescue Homing Frequency. Sateliite coverage of
121.5 MHz through the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system will be switched
off in the coming years, this does not however affect in any way non
satellite based locally managed Search & Rescue Systems such as the
Sea Marshall® Self Managed Maritime Survivor Locating Devices. In fact
it has the positive affect of reducing false alerts. The following is
a quote from the COSPAS SARSAT website:

Cospas-Sarsat Phase-Out of 121.5/243 MHz Alerting Services

“However, other devices (such as man overboard systems and homing
transmitters) that operate at 121.5 MHz and do not rely on satellite
detection will not be affected by the phase-out of satellite
processing at 121.5 MHz.”

For further information please visit the Cospas-Sarsat website at:
http://www.cospas-sarsat.org/FirstPage/121.5PhaseOut.htm

The next meeting of the T&TC has been scheduled for the 24th November 2009.

Again I ask that all incidents are reported to me or any of the committee. If we don’t know we can’t help.

Brian Wilson – Chairman T&TC – Belfast Pilots Ltd.