PILOT ON-BOARD & THE CLOSED LOOP

As an ex-pilot, Cruise vessel Captain and Operation Manager in a short sea company with more than 8000 port calls per year,I have experience with pilots both from the customer side and the service side.  The reality looks different from different angles. The operation side looks at the expenses, while the master, in most cases, is considering the pilot as a helping hand in waters he is unfamiliar with.   No matter the reason and no matter the cost, the pilot has an important job to do on-board. 

Legally, the master has full responsibility for safe navigation of his vessel, even if a pilot is on- board. Pilotage is one of the oldest professions, as old as sea travel, and it is one of the most important in maritime safety. The oldest recorded in history dates back to about the 7th century BC.

Even though Pilots are expert ship handlers who possess detailed knowledge of local waterways, several maritime incidents each year happen with a pilot on-board, costing and average of $850,000.  Moreover, these accidents are too costly, and probably these could have been avoided with proper training and communication.

Pending on the reason the pilot is on-board, one often see a different attitude and bridge team environment. 

 

On the Norwegian coast, on-board vessels manned to “minimum safe manning” in short sea trade, I was very often considered as an extra hand on-board, and the OOW very often left me “alone” on the bridge as helmsman and navigator while he was correcting charts, sending mails, taking phone calls or plain and simply fall asleep or vanish.  This is by no means the way it should be. 

The Master is in command of the ship at all times with only one exception: when transiting through the Panama Canal. Therefore, it is always the duty of the Master and OOW to keep a situational awareness of all activities of the pilot. Although the pilot is the most knowledgeable about local waters, it is the responsibility of the Master/OOW to verify position through proper use of charts (electronic or paper), radars and other position fixing devices and follow local rules on speed and routing.

Voyage planning is crucial in all situations including when pilots are on-board. Sufficient time should be allowed for proper communication between the Master, pilots and OOWs. This voyage plan should include every important activity starting from the embarkation of the pilot, in and out of the berth, and finally the disembarkation of the pilot.  

In the handover phase, communication using “the closed loop” is extremely important. The “closed loop” is a communication protocol where information is given, repeated by the receiver and normally confirmed by the issuer. In a Canadian study where 200 accidents were related to human error, 84 or  42%  involved  several misunderstandings between pilot and master and some could probably have been avoided if the “closed loop” protocol had been used. The closed loop is the only way one can be sure an order is being followed and is a vital part of the bridge team management. Having observed this from all sides, it is obvious to me that you can minimize the risk of misunderstanding if the whole bridge team is taking part and the “closed loop” is working. 

Lately we have conducted various exercises in our simulators, and it is obvious to us that where an active bridge team is involved the risk of accidents is dramatically reduced. In the STCW 2010 Manila amendments, there are requirements where BRM/ERM courses are mandatory from January 1, 2017 or that competence have been assessed on-board.  The latter will save money in the short run, but only “Training is loss prevention”, a citation from one of our clients.