The Tribune

THE Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association is aiming to bring about independence of pilots in Grand Bahama.

Six out of eight marine pilots at the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) and another five pilots at the Freeport Harbour Company (FHC) gave 30 days’ notice of resignation on Friday, February 28.

“We have given reasonable notice, thirty days, as required by all contracts,” said Erin Ferguson, Managing Director of the Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association.

“The Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association (BMPA) has made it clear that in this case we have exhausted all measures with the companies and attempted all options to discuss Independent Pilotage, but the companies claimed that they had no interest”.

With fears of the Freeport Harbour slowing down or not being able to remain in operation, Mr Ferguson addressed this, saying: “We do not intend to suspend any level of service, and it is against the law for a pilot to withhold services. In the resignation letters, we cited the law that makes it clear that it is an legal offence for a pilot to withhold services unreasonably. The pilots have also said that we are all members of the Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association and will be available to provide pilotage services through the Freeport Pilotage Company, a fully licensed company with the Grand Bahama Port Authority. With that said, there is no reason why any ship should be delayed for one minute; we are available.

“Marine pilots are considered protectors of the harbour, whose primary responsibility is to protect the interests of the Bahamas. A pilot is expected to act in the public interest and to exercise independent judgment to protect the property, lives, environment, and economic well-being of a port area. Freeport Harbour is one of the very few jurisdictions world-wide that continues to have pilots as employees of companies which has been clearly determined to be a conflict of interest, and not in the best interest of the harbour,” Mr Ferguson said.

“Freeport Harbour,” he added, “is simply not safe. The pilots are very concerned about poor safety standards at the Freeport Harbour. Pilots are being overworked, pilots are not being given the proper amount of rest, there is no proper rotation system, there is no mandatory pilotage to the anchorage and so you would see this week there was an incident at the anchorage and in October there were two incidents in one week.

“The association wants an international standard of safety and it says it begins with independence. The pilots have asked as is the standard in every port throughout the world for independent pilotage. Here is why that is important; pilots are suppose to be independent of commercial interest, which means that the pilots do not exist on the schedule of either the ships or the commercial interest in the harbour or any industry partners. That is important because pilots have to make judgment calls that protect the best interest of the harbour.

“Independence provides pilots with the ability to do their own training, to maintain the training standards that are kept worldwide. Which, is that pilots are trained or participate in some form of training every six months. Those training exercises include man models, simulators, and bridge resource management. That has not happened particularly in the companies that we are dealing with, in the time frame that is expected and so the pilots are not trained as well as they would be if they were independent,” he said.

According to Mr Ferguson, the Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association has not received any co-operation from the companies, after sending information regarding what they are proposing as changes in pilotage.

The Houston harbour pilots have visited the Bahamas to explain the pilot management software that will be introduced. The software promises to help avoid incidents and any confusion in the harbour and enhance the efficiency of operations. As soon as the resignation takes effect, all pilotage services can be received from the Freeport pilotage company and the members of the Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association have pledged to provide the services that they are providing today on a more efficient basis.

Mr Ferguson said they are introducing Harbour Lights, which is the software that is managing the Houston harbour, the second largest petrochemical port in the world.

Recently, the Freeport Habour Company released a press statement claiming that they have a “core team of dedicated pilots” who are in place to service the harbour after the Bahamas Maritime Pilots Association announced their impending resignations from BORCO and FHC.

However, Mr Ferguson said, it is entirely “irresponsible” for Freeport Harbour to even suggest that they have a full complement of pilots.

“Freeport Harbour had nine pilots servicing the needs of the harbour and there were still regular delays in ships being piloted in the Harbour. They fired two of our pilots on December 31 because they refused to sign a change in the employment agreement that would in effect end the training programme, so they were left with seven pilots. Friday, February 28, five pilots resigned and only two pilots remain who are both in management as the port director and marine manager. How can it be suggested to any reasonable person that they have a full complement of pilots? Furthermore, they hired a pilot from BORCO who is on Dialysis treatment and should never be piloting ships in that condition, and they intend to bring in trainees? This cannot work, because it takes 3-5 years for a trainee to be able to pilot large 1,000 foot vessels.”

Mr Ferguson went on to say: “BORCO is in the same predicament, because they had nine pilots, and six resigned, leaving one trainee, and two senior pilots, one of which cannot pilot at this time because he is on extended sick leave. To suggest they can handle the traffic of ships without the Freeport Pilotage Company would be unwise, and definitely unsafe.”