TasPorts | Marine Pilots and Marine Operatives

In the second of our series focusing on ‘Our people at ports’, we catch up with Pierre Chays, our Marine Safety Manager and Pilot who gives us a behind the scenes look at what our Harbours Team is doing during these difficult times in supporting the movement of essential freight services in and out of the Island. For him, it is very much ‘business as usual’ – and outside of his working hours he’s getting used to having another baby around the house.

Great film about sailing on Kiel Canal (NOK) in Germany.

Pilot recruitment has traditionally been based on seniority, and extensive sea experience. However, a more modern approach, hiring younger, motivated candidates with structured training, offers an alternative path with compelling advantages.

Shifting a vessel from one harbor to other. Easy and safe maneuver. Turn area D=150m. Mooring area 110m.

This paper described some of the characteristics it could offer to be classified as "smart" by reviewing risk management practices and accident statistics using the Finnish port of Rauma.

By 2001, the Houston Pilots led the way in hiring minorities and women, and a few years later it formed a nonprofit called Anchor Watch, to offer scholarships to maritime students in need and boost opportunities for minority and women candidates. Captain Holly Cooper joined the Houston Pilots in 1994 as the group’s 151st pilot and the first woman to begin training as a deputy.

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

In this eye-opening episode of Sea Views, host Julia Gosling speaks with Captain Andrew Moll (Chief Inspector, UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch), Ari Palmers (Senior Maritime Pilot, Netherlands), and Adam Parnell (Director, CHIRP Maritime) to confront the serious dangers faced by maritime pilots — especially during pilot transfers, where fatality rates remain alarmingly high.