Chairman’s Report: Summer 2011

November 9th, 2011 by JCB
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It was a pleasure to meet many of you at this year’s one day conference on board HQS Wellington in May.

Since my last report there have been a number of pilotage related legal developments in various parts of the country. In Scotland, a landmark ruling in an appeal against a Judicial Revue finding has resulted in significantly greater professional authorisation security for all UK pilots. Another action on the Humber – whilst brought about by UNITE on behalf of a (non UKMPA) member pilot has resulted in confirmation of the application of the Work Time Regulations to pilots although I understand that the port authority may appeal. Unfortunately elsewhere, a complex three way action continues with only partial conclusion and no identifiable “winner”. It is worth reiterating that in the first and last cases, the defence of the members’ positions was only possible due to the protection afforded by our insurance policy.

Membership of our Association continues to increase slowly. Mike Robarts is actively pursuing non-members in various ports around the country, explaining the benefits of UKMPA membership. If you know of colleagues who are not yet members then Mike will be pleased to furnish you with the necessary information to pass on to them.

You will recall a few years ago the consultation on Draft Marine Navigation Bill and the associated Transport Select Committee hearing. We have  had several meetings with the Dft, post consultation, mainly discussing the unacceptable proposals contained within the Bill for the deregulation of PECs. The Bill then gathered dust on a shelf somewhere in Portcullis House. Recently, our president Lord Tony Berkeley, identified an opportunity to revive elements of the bill via the Marine Navigational Aids Bill currently en-route through parliament. Various stakeholders  were approached including the Dft and UKMPA to determine what sections of the original Bill should be included in this latest endeavour. There was much support for the goal of this action and it is pleasing to report that the bill has now been published within the House of Lords http://bit.ly/ppgzdX. However, it has been made clear from one of the ports’ associations that their ultimate aim is for the management of pilotage to be fully returned to respective port management without the intervention of the Pilotage Act. This may commence with an attempt to have elements of the Pilotage Act repealed, in particular those relating to PECs and associated pilotage management issues. We are keeping a close watch on this proposal which cannot be in the public interest nor to the benefit of navigational safety, the protection of the environment in our port areas or the commercial efficiency of trade.

We have been actively participating in both the recent Coastguard Review consultation and the proposed withdrawal of the Emergency Towage Vessels ETVs.  For the latter my thanks to Matthew Hill of the Clyde who attended a meeting there on our behalf. As I said at conference, it is our intention where appropriate to invite local members to attend meetings and events thus making significant savings on transport and accommodation costs.

Other meetings that I and Section Committee members have attended include:

The IMO navigational Safety Committee 57th meeting Three members (Martin James, Mike Morris and John Pearn) attended in order to offer guidance to the UK delegation and to support IMPA in responding to a somewhat naive paper submitted by the Bahamas delegation on pilotage practices.

Graham Langley, attended the 13th PMSC Steering group (on behalf of Martin James).

Peter Wylie, Mike Morris and I attended the EMPA GM in Amsterdam where Kevin Vallance and Gareth Rees gave excellent presentations on ECDIS and the AZIPILOT project. Peter stood down from the EMPA board but unfortunately Mikes endeavours to be voted on as replacement were unsuccessful. We will though retain our active involvement in the EMPA e-navigation committee with Kevin being assisted by Mike.

I recently met with the Unite Assistant General Secretary (transport), Diana Holland and Julian Long (Docks and Waterways National Officer) to discuss a number of items including the (mutually agreed) unacceptable current situation with the UKMPA office in Transport House and more importantly, the UKMPA rules. Following the merger of Amicus and the T&GWU, the Unite executive have been undertaking a comprehensive review of the Unite rule book and those of member associations. There will be more news on this in the months to come.

I also met recently with Nautilus’ Mark Dickinson (General Secretary) and Allan Graveson (Senior National Secretary). This was essentially the continuing maintenance of a good relationship our two organisations have enjoyed for many years. A number of items of mutual interest and concern were discussed.

Working with tugs is an integral part of pilotage and I was pleased to be asked by the British Tug Owners Association to address the BTA conference earlier this year on Pilot / Tug skipper relationships and aspects of operations including PECs and tugs. It was very well received and the BTA are keen to develop relationships with the UKMPA.

Last but not least, it would be remiss not to thank Nigel Allen and his colleagues for all the work they put into the joint venture, tremendously successful PPU/ECDIS seminar in May.

You can see from the above that your representatives are very active in a wide range of areas within the UK, European and International pilotage domain. Our Association was formed in 1884 with the objective “to influence the development of Pilotage and Associated Regulations, including Acts of Parliament and to help those members around the country who found themselves in difficulty”. Whilst our appearance may have changed, the objectives remain the same.

Wishing you smooth waters and safe transits.

Don Cockrill

Minutes of the conference proceedings are available on the UKMPA web site.