Why do so many accidents occur in pilotage waters, often with a pilot embarked? This is an age-old question which seems designed to raise the hackles of any pilot who might be in earshot. And of course in some respects it is as silly a question as “why are there so many groundings in coastal waters?” But in shallower seas and pilotage waters the risks are multiplied, and the pilot is hired to keep these risks manageable!
But it is probably true that the Master-pilot relationship and the role of the pilot as part of the ship’s bridge team can often be improved. The warning against instantly relaxing when the pilot is handling the ship may be an old one, but remains fresh and important. And while there may still be debate about whether passage plans should be berth to berth or interrupted at the pilot station, there needs to be mutual assurance about, on the one hand, the competence of the pilot and on the other, the ability of the bridge team (and the ship in general) to operate as might be expected.
It is sometimes said that the moment the pilot strides onto the bridge of an inbound ship at the pilot station is not the best time to become engaged in lengthy discussions about the passage plan and the ship’s characteristics. The best modern pilot services will ensure that the pilot has prior knowledge about the ship he is boarding and that the Master of the ship has at least been appraised of the passage to the berth. Good communications are there to be used for such a purpose, and trying to peer at a pilot card with the characteristics of the ship by the light of a torch with the ship crossing a crowded anchorage is second best and should not be necessary.
It is also important that the safe navigation of the ship is the priority of the moment and there is no distraction, on behalf of either the pilot or the bridge team, from mobile telephones or arrival paperwork. Both have contributed to accidents. The job of the bridge team is to monitor the position of the ship, ensure that the pilot’s orders are obeyed correctly and promptly, and, if doubt arises, to politely question the pilot, which can be done without causing offence. The pilot, for his part, needs to keep the Master and officer of the watch involved and constantly inform them of what he is doing.
There are, of course, certain “natural” obstacles to this efficient interchange. Language may be a problem, with the standards of English spoken varying widely, but it is still no reason to depart from the proper behaviour in which each knows what the other is doing. A pilot carrying out long conversations in his own language with the shore, or tugs, or other pilots in a traffic situation, needs to provide a clear summary in English to the Master and the ship’s team. The pilot needs to know what conversations inside the wheelhouse, which might have some effect on the ongoing situation, are all about. It may be common courtesy, but also common sense, and could be crucial.
Problems arise when a pilot fails to communicate adequately operating, as it were, in isolation. Equally, pilots too often find that a ship’s bridge is not adequately manned, and that he is faced with a Master struggling with paperwork problems or some extraneous bureaucracy and left to handle the ship on his own. Most times they get away with it, but when accidents happen, the investigators discover it is the relationship between pilot and bridge team that is the main contributor.