UK: 20 Years of the Pilotage Act

ALEXANDRE ROCHA, MNI

In the midst of the discussions regarding the Brazilian pilotage system, it is very easy to forget that history often repeats itself, albeit in different regions of the globe.

The complaints levelled against pilots in Brazil are hardly surprising. And the United Kingdom provides a fairly decent indication of what might come should the Goverment cave in to the pressure from other sectors of shipping.

Here we quote an October 2008 editorial from Master Mariner John Clandillon-Baker -- a Fellow of the Nautical Institute and the editor of The Pilot, the journal of the United Kingdom Maritime Pilots' Association.

With a few adaptations, his text would just apply to the current situation in Brazil:

Online Edition

This month [October 2008] marks the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the 1987 Pilotage Act which transferred responsibility for UK pilotage from Trinity House to the ports. It seems strange that pilotage was singled out as an area where legislation was required, but the intense lobbying by the shipping and ports industries somehow convinced the Government that pilots were “strangulating trade” and unless this unruly body of individuals was regulated then the country would be brought to its knees!
Although all was not as rosy under Trinity House as some would like to reminisce, the TH pilots provided a high quality professional and very efficient service to the ports for (compared to lawyers and accountants) a very reasonable charge. Once the responsibility for pilotage was transferred to the ports, the delegation of power without accountability inevitably led to the erosion of safety parameters and this fundamental flaw of the 1987 Act was dramatically exposed by the Sea Empress disaster in 1996. The findings of the Sea Empress investigation led to a review of the Pilotage Act which in turn led to the Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC).
So where are we now? Twenty years on, the flaws of the 1987 Act are still regularly being revealed by MAIB investigations and in 2005 the government announced a proposed new Marine Bill which would include pilotage and underpin the PMSC with legislation to provide accountability by ports to the Secretary of State. Although delayed, the Bill is still tabled for the future but the delay has resulted in the port and shipping industries intensifying their lobbying to water down the legislation. As I write this, the ship owners and charterers are lobbying to remove the requirement for a PEC holder to be the “bona fide” Master or Mate of the ship (see PEC abuse article) and the ports bodies are lobbying to prevent the PMSC and accountability elements of the Bill from being incorporated. “Voluntary self regulation” is all that is required they protest. Well, as the now proud owners of all the UK banks’ debts, we all know where that leads!