Editorial 04/05

April 15th, 2005 by JCB
Posted in Editorial | No Comments »

EDITORIAL

As all pilots know there are frequently occasions where a pilotage act is undertaken which utilises all the skills and experience accrued during a pilot’s career.  I recently undertook such an act and whilst unwinding after its successful conclusion there were two key elements that occurred to me. Firstly, having transited the approach channel constantly adjusting for leeway of between 4 and 8 degrees depending on wind gusts and also passing other vessels at close range this transit underlined what all pilots know in that such a passage would be impossible to conduct from a VTS centre no matter how sophisticated the equipment or how experienced the VTS operator might be.  The other point was to question why on earth the shipping and ports representatives are putting up such a strong resistance to the incorporation of pilotage qualifications and standards into the PMSC. Under BPIT, pilots produced the necessary National Occupational Standards and all that is required is for these to be formally integrated into the Code. With the insurers highlighting the escalating level of claims allegedly resulting from pilot error (see page 10) one would expect that ports and shipowners would wish to ensure that pilots are recruited and trained to the highest standards especially since it was only through an out of court settlement that Milford Haven avoided a court action brought by the Oil Pollution Compensation Fund for failing to train the pilot of the Sea Empress to an acceptable standard of competence. Regrettably the risks of another major pilotage incident in a UK port are seemingly being trivialised. With the pilot standards document effectively shelved by the apparently dormant port run body of Port Skills and Safety Ltd. (PSSL) there now also appears to be a growing movement to kill off the Education, Training, Certification & Standards (ETCS) programme for maritime pilots currently running in Europe. The old insurance adage of “if you think safety is expensive, try having an accident” has never been more relevant!