Running the ships
Pilots and pilotage
Ports and harbours are tricky places to navigate a ship. They
may have dredged channels between sandbanks. Near the shipping
channel may be submerged rocks or wrecks. There may be tides and
currents that demand local knowledge. For these reasons, most ports
insist that any vessel over a certain modest size carries a
qualified local pilot when it enters or leaves. 
 Pilots boarding a ship |
Pilots are qualified navigators who are taken on board a ship,
usually at the entrance to a port or river. They then use their
local knowledge to sail the vessel into port. Pilots will have been
to sea themselves. They usually have a Master`s certificate which
lets them command a seagoing ship. They also need intimate local
knowledge, acquired by working with a qualified local pilot for a
period. A pilot`s job is to advise the ship`s master on a safe
route to and from berth, but the master is always in charge of the
safety of the ship. Nowadays, depending on the port, pilots are employed by the port
authority, or they work for a co-operative of pilots. Formerly,
some were employed by Trinity House (a national body which also
looks after lights and buoys round the coast) but it now only does
deep sea pilotage. This is for masters not familiar with European
waters who engage a pilot the whole time they are in continental
waters. Whoever they work for, their fees come from a charge on
each ship they pilot. Pilotage is expensive. So masters of ships which regularly trade
to a port and hence know its peculiarities can apply for a Pilotage
Exemption Certificate. This means their ship does not have to pay
for a pilot each time it sails or arrives. In recognition, the
captain may receive a higher wage from the shipowner. Pilots do not just work in ports and harbours. Some particularly
difficult or busy stretches of water require pilots, for instance,
the English Channel, and the Manchester Ship Canal.
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