Saturday, April 14, 2007

Changes to rules of the water could bring dangers


The possibility of Transport Canada changing regulations for coastal waters in British Columbia has a number of Maritime groups in the province concerned over the possibility of problems developing as pilots unfamiliar to local waters take over vessels along the coast.

The Daily News featured the story on its front page on Thursday.

CHOPPY WATERS FEARED IF SHIP PILOTS’ RULES CHANGED
Groups fear local knowledge may be sacrificed for profits if Act is altered
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Pages one and three

Transport Canada is looking at changes to regulations that could put strangers at the helm of large tankers being brought into Canadian ports.

However, B. C.’s maritime community, including representation from Prince Rupert, say there is no reason to delve into uncharted waters.

“In light of the increased traffic and capacity we are anticipating on the West Coast over the next couple of years, we are quite concerned they were looking at the use of employee pilots, people who were employed by the companies who would be running as a pilot on their own,” said Des Nobels of the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation.

“With human error being what it is, you can take all the precautions in the world unless you have good people on those vessels you could have a problem,”

Transport Canada has hired consultants to review the Pilotage Act, the federal regulations that mandate how Pilotage Authorities can operate.

They held meetings on the proposed changes in Prince Rupert and in Vancouver in March.

Currently, when a vessel of 350 gross tonnes enters British Columbia waters, its shipping agent contacts the Pacific Pilotage Authority to have a pilot brought out to the boarding station and transferred onto the vessel. In Prince Rupert, that station is on Triple Island. Once the vessel leaves Triple Island, it is under the command of a pilot.

B. C.’s pilots are contracted by the Pacific Pilotage Authority through the B. C. Coastal Pilots Marine Pilots or, in the Lower Mainland, Fraser River Pilots.

However, one of the changes being explored by Transport Canada would mean that the Pilotage Authority would not have to contract either association and it’s members who have experience navigating the complex waters off B. C. coastal waters off B. C. coast, said Jennifer Lash, executive director of the Living Oceans Society. Instead they could use an employee pilot on board the vessel.

“Once you go to market-based decision that allow shipping companies to find a cheaper solution to piloting their ships, they will end up cutting corners,” said Lash.

“That makes us very concerned.”

It’s especially daunting given the number of projects proposed for the North Coast that could increase the number of tanker visits each year by 320, she said.

“Most of the pilots are veterans of the coast, probably more than 20 years sea time in these waters, that’s one of the prerequisites before you get to the exam process,” said Ken Robinson.

Robinson is vice-president of the B.C. Coastal Marine Pilots.

“We are very familiar with the coast and those are the benefits the ships get from using the pilots. We are familiar with the passages, the currents, the traffic, all that kind of stuff.”

In addition to safety concerns, the B. C. Chamber of Shipping said this change could result in labour turmoil between pilot associations and pilotage authorities.

“It could lead to bargaining that wasn’t in good faith because you knew if your contract didn’t work out you could always hire other people, it didn’t make sense to us,’ said Rick Bryant of the B. C. Chamber of Shipping, organization that serves the international shipping community in B. C.

The other three changes being proposed by Transport Canada include eliminating the use of an arbitrator to negotiate final contracts between the pilotage authorities and pilot associations, removing the ability of people to oppose new pilotage tariffs with the Canadian Transportation Agency and eliminating the right of stakeholders to object to changes in areas that require pilots.

Ultimately, there is a consensus that the proposed changes have been put forward to solve labour problems in the St. Lawrence Seaway, said Robinson.

“There’s some perceived problems in an area of the St. Lawrence River, they are struggling somewhat, the authority and the pilots in that area, to settle their negotiations, so the government is looking at ways to force their hand, I’d have to say,” said Robinson. “Nobody on the West Coast thinks it’s a great idea. Most of the people in the transportation industry were quite united in saying that’s not something we want to look at around here.”

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