European Maritime Pilots Warn of Deregulation Dangers

The European Parliament has requested that the European Commission remove pilotage from the directive as safety concerns mitigate against it being made into a commercial service.

Under the Spanish presidency, pilotage remains in the directive and its inclusion has the support of Spain’s powerful transport commissioner in Brussels, Loyola de Palacio.

Addressing the European Parliament, EMPA’s president Gianfranco Gasperini cited concerns expressed by shipping associations such as Intertanko and competent authorities in the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany.

“It is important that the competent national authorities maintain surveillance and quality control with the pilotage services, he said on that occasion. He cited two main reasons justifying restrictions on commercialisation;

pilotage services must be carried out by trained, experienced pilots and, if pilotage is to be a service contract, groups could seek to optimise income by taking on as many vessels as possible and thus become dependent upon commercial relationships with clients. This would weaken the position of the pilot as an impartial judge of vessel conditions and incidents while manoeuvring.

The International Maritime Pilot Association backs the EMPA position, saying that compromise on pilotage standards for the sake of small short-term savings can set the stage for catastrophic costs. It cites the US National Transportation Safety Board report into the Exxon Valdez disaster, which states that ‘the lack of effective pilotage services was the central cause’.

Experiments with deregulated pilotage in the American state of Florida and in Argentina led to poor quality pilotage, increased danger and proved that in the majority of cases, pilotage costs are higher with deregulation. Both returned to regulated pilotage services.

MJ Information No: 17511