Chairman’s Report: Don Cockrill

July 18th, 2013 by JCB
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I am writing this having just sat with UK delegation at the IMO STW (standards of training and watch-keeping) sub-committee meeting. Although there were no obvious matters of significance to pilots in the agenda, it was important that pilots were present so as to be able to react and inform if required. IMPA has observer status as an NGO but it is also useful for pilots to accompany national delegations (as many do) to offer their expertise on practical maritime matters as well pilotage during proceedings. As yet we are not a standard part of the UK delegation (as other nations determine is necessary) but we are of course happy to be so if our national representative body at the IMO ever desires it.

Marine Navigation Bill (MNB): The Bill passed through the House of Lords on 24^th April despite our best efforts to convince their Lordships of the dangers and irresponsibility of it doing so.  Having attained Royal Assent, the next stage is for a working group to be set up under the auspices of the PMSC in which we will participate with other stakeholders to ensure a safe and robust process is incorporated into the Guide To Good Practice concerning “all deck officers” holding PECs.

It is perhaps worthwhile recapping the whole debacle of clause 2. The Draft MNB first appeared in 2007. It contained a proposal to extend PEC eligibility to “any person”. Following consultation and a Transport Select Committee inquiry, which recommended the PEC deregulation clause be dropped, the Bill was eventually shelved since there was no parliamentary time for its process.  There it lay except for a brief resurgence in 2009, which led to nothing. In 2010, Lord Berkeley was approached by the Dft to table a Private Member’s Bill (PMB) in the House of Lords – The Marine Navigation Bill.  This contained a clause which we now know as Clause 2. Despite our strongest objections (relayed through Lord Berkeley) for its deletion, the clause was published in the Bill. The following meetings were often intense with the UKMPA maintaining refusal to accept inclusion of the clause. Our position was that the Bill should pass through the Lords with its deletion. Clearly this was totally unacceptable to the Government as surprisingly and without any prior advice or consultation, a second PMB titled Marine Navigation (No.2) Bill was published, this time in the House of Commons and sponsored by Sheryll Murray MP. The offending clause now read “any crew member”.

I met with Sheryll Murray and later with Jim Fitzpatrick MP who, as Opposition shipping spokesman, spoke in our support. Numerous letters were sent from the UKMPA and individual members to MPs, Ministers, Industry and other professional bodies as well of course the Dft.  The end result was simply a wording modification to the bizarre non-STCW defined “Deck Officer”. This was despite some very much appreciated, strong and erudite interventions in the house by a number of sympathetic MPs, notably Philip Davies MP who actually took time to read, consider and understood the implications of our submissions and arguments.

The Bill then passed through to the House of Lords, now sponsored by the Baroness Wilcox.  The farce of the Common’s process was repeated. Their Lordships chose to listen to obsolete, factually incorrect statements by once knowledgeable Peers who are out of touch with the reality of 21^st century merchant shipping rather than accept the true facts presented to them by further letters and papers, input by Lord Berkeley and at meetings with the sponsor.

The United Kingdom, once revered in the maritime world but for some time relegated on the “respect table” within the international professional maritime community has now dropped a rung or two even lower with the acceptance of the ludicrous belief that junior officers can be in a position of highly responsible management and exercise a “command function” by holding a PEC.

Transport Select Committee report: The report of the TSC inquiry into pilotage was published in early March (http://tinyurl.com/bvryk9s) which was very sympathetic to our submission. We now await the Government’s response which should be published in early May

EU – PECs & Ports Policy Review: I attended a workshop in Brussels in March on the European Commission’s PEC review and all members have been encouraged to participate in the online questionnaire. Objections have been formally placed with the European Commission concerning statements made within the questionnaire, which are based on incorrect extrapolated assumptions from the poor accident data results of the PWC consultation of 2012.

The Ports Policy Review is on going with three target areas: PECs, Concessions and Competition. We are receiving mixed messages from the EC on how this will affect pilotage and are working closely with our colleagues in a number of European States to protect pilotage professional interests.

EMPA conference in Malta 

(www.empa-pilots.org)

Eight UKMPA Section Committee, T&TC and Europilot members attended this excellent event in April. The high spot for us was the election of Captain Mike Morris (Manchester) as a vice president on the EMPA board.

ESPO conference in Varna:

(www.espo-conference.com)

Mike Morris and John Pearn will be attending this important event in May. John has also been invited to speak to a special pilotage safety conference in Rio de Janeiro.

London International Shipping Week: (www.londoninternationalshippingweek.com)

The UKMPA is supporting and will be participating in this showcase event which is probably going to be the most significant of 2013 in the UK shipping and ports calendar.

All-Party Parliamentary Maritime and Ports Group and IMO presentations: 

A number of Section Committee members and I attend these periodic meetings in parliament whenever possible. In March, I gave a joint presentation with Nick Cutmore of IMPA on pilotage. Unfortunately there were two major debates on going in both Houses and so attendance was not large.  It was a worthwhile effort though.  We also joined forces with the British Tug Owners’ Association at the IMO STW meeting where we gave a presentation on aspects of tug safety: Line disconnection, weighted heaving lines and excessive speed.

PNPF: Those of you who are PNPF members will be aware that the long running legal case has concluded and CHAs advised of their liabilities. This affects us all, PNPF members or not and our thanks must go to Joe Wilson, Paul, Tony and Richard Williamson (now retired) and their colleagues for the significant work put into achieving this satisfactory result.  Unfortunately, some CHAs are choosing to target their pilots with the liability burden.  If you find yourself in this position do not hesitate to contact a SC member or myself.

DfT: For the first time in many years, Mike Morris, Mike Robarts and I met with officers of the Dft in March to discuss a number of important items related to training, greater involvement with UK ports operational safety, the EC PEC review and a number of other matters.  This was the first of what is intended to be regular “catch up” meetings, something which has been notably missing to date. One outcome (of many) is that we will give a presentation to Dft staff on pilotage in June.

Flying Phantom: You may be unaware that the Scottish Authorities have decided to take action against the Port Authority and Towage Company involved in this tragic case. (http://tinyurl.com/ced5uh4)

Meetings:  Various other meetings, seminars and industry functions have been attended since the last issue of The Pilot by SC members and deputies as well as the T&TC members.  This all takes considerable time by all involved both in preparation and post meeting reports. It is not unusual for attendees to be away from home for days at a time and the commitment involved should not be underestimated or indeed undervalued. These meetings have not been limited to national or even European concerns. As well as attending IMPA executive meeting in January, John and I met with a delegation from Bintalu (Malaysia) on a UK visit (see page 16)  and I also visited the Virginian pilots whilst on holiday in the USA. If you have never considered it, give some thought to visiting local pilots whilst you are on vacation abroad, you will I am sure find it a very enjoyable, enlightening and memorable experience.

Good Communications: are essential to the efficiency of any organisation. As well as email, which is now the standard communication format with members, the UKMPA website is updated regularly and contains a wealth of information and it will shortly be the focus of an upgrade project. If you are not receiving the emails, please send your email address to Mike Robarts (secretary@ukmpa.org).

The UKMPA LINKEDIN discussion forum is active and @UKPILOTS on Twitter is proving extremely popular.  If you think Twitter is only for your teenage children or those with nothing better to do but create their own “fame” (as I once did) it most certainly is not.

Housekeeping:  On the UKMPA domestic front, John Pearn has taken over the insurance brief from Simon Campbell who has changed jobs and to whom we owe our thanks for the sterling work he has done over the years of his tenure on SC.  One important point to note is the additional policy available for self-employed pilots which covers legal costs that may be incurred in contractual matters with CHAs etc.

Nick Lee (London) has taken over as Chairman of the T&TC from Jonathan Mills who has got a new job in Singapore. As you will all be aware, the T&TC is one of the most important UKMPA committees and I’m sure that members will wish to join me in thanking Jonathan for his valuable work during his time as T&TC chairman.

It is a pleasure to see that the subscription collection modernisation to Direct Debit has completed successfully thanks the huge efforts of Bob Watt our Treasurer and the much appreciated cooperation of all UKMPA members which made this change possible. The Associate membership category has started to take effect with a number of ex-pat pilots now in membership.

Charity work: We have for many years been involved in supporting various causes. This year we will be helping the Jubilee Sailing Trust by sponsoring one of their calendar pages and have recently assisted the Missions to Seafarers in one of their projects in a practical manner.

Finally, It is my pleasure to announce the long awaited publication of the UK pilotage history by Harry Hignett. Details of how to obtain a copy of this fascinating book can be found on page 12.

As the summer approaches, the weather improves but that is no reason to be less attentive. Many accidents happen in the most benign conditions. Be safe and be proud of  your profession, once described by a senior UK government maritime official as the most honourable profession ever devised by mankind.   Don