Page 11 - Loodswezen December 2017

‘PUT SIMPLY: PILOTAGE IS A MATTER OF PUBLIC INTEREST. AS PILOTS, WE ARE DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS SURROUNDING SAFETY, SECURITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION’
PILOT EXEMPTION CERTIFICATES
Another current issue is a proposed European policy on Pilot Ex- emption Certi cates. Stein Inge Dahn: “Promoting the exemption of mandatory pilotage runs contrary to the aim of promoting safety and ef ciency. EMPA is not completely against it though, but under strict conditions. EMPA believes that Pilot Exemption Certi cates should only be issued at a local level in an individual port and certainly not at the EU level. Furthermore, there must be full certainty that the captain is t and has all the skills to ensure safe navigation, including being able to communicate ef ciently in the language of the other port users. In terms of t, we also have to consider an element such as fatigue, which is a common major problem in shipping - also among pilots
- and especially for shipping routes where of cers work in six-hour rotational shifts. Eventually, humans can’t handle this.”
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