In an exclusive interview, Matthew Williams, Secretary General of the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA), offers insights into recent updates and regulatory changes related to maritime pilotage, emphasizing the need for proactive measures to mitigate risks.
Williams notes that while maritime pilotage remains critical, pilot ladders have emerged as a significant concern due to high rates of non-compliance over the past five years. To address this, the IMPA is launching a two-week Safety Campaign in October, aimed at gathering data on the real-world experiences of maritime pilots to support their safety objectives.
SAFETY4SEA: What are industry’s key challenges regarding pilot transfer arrangements from your perspective?
Matthew Williams: Ensuring all pilot transfer arrangements presented to maritime pilots, seafarers, inspectors, and surveyors are compliant and safe. The current regulatory regime can make this difficult, and this has been a driver for the work IMPA has been involved in at IMO to revise SOLAS regulation V/23 and its associated instruments. We look forward to a refreshed, consolidated, mandatory regime with everything needed for compliance in one place. This should make it easier for everyone to do their job. A revised Ladder Poster is on its way, too.
S4S: In October 2024, the new IMPA Safety Campaign will run for two weeks. What are the primary objectives of the campaign this year?
M.W.: To collect data about the lived experience of maritime pilots, which can be used to further IMPA’s objectives for their safety.
S4S: What common non-compliances regarding maritime pilotage and pilot transfer arrangements have you observed in past campaigns?
M.W.: The data trend, 2018 – 2023, shows that non-compliance rates are persistent and stubbornly high. The two-year rolling average non-compliance rate peaked at 16% in 2023. The main driver of that non-compliance rate is problems with pilot ladders, which account for around 50% of non-compliant observations each year. Our full report of the 2023 Safety Survey is available on our website
S4S: How may technology/digitization affect pilotage safety?
M.W.: Maritime pilotage is very effective. Navigation risk is reduced by x528 compared with not taking a pilot (TEMS, 2022) and we estimate the risk of a serious maritime safety or marine pollution incident to be 1.91 for every 10 million acts of pilotage (based on IGP&I, 2020). This is due to the human capital we have in maritime pilotage and the willingness of pilots to embrace technology where it improves performance—sophisticated ship modelling and handling simulation, high-resolution navigation data, and user-centric decision support tools called personal pilot units. There is a real need in maritime to foster the pragmatic adoption of technology as a human capital multiplier and avoid adopting technology for its own sake or for the wrong reasons. IMPA is undertaking an international study into remote pilotage to provide pilots’ organisations and competent authorities with unbiased, evidence-driven and authoritative observations on the concept. This work will be done with the Canadian National Centre of Expertise on Maritime Pilotage and the Canadian Coast Guard. The results will be published, demonstrating our commitment to enabling informed decisions by those best placed to shape effective systems of pilotage: pilots’ organisations and competent authorities. More information on the project will be available on the IMPA website shortly.
S4S: What have been the recent developments/ highlights in pilot transfer arrangements from a regulatory perspective?
M.W.: IMO finalised a revision of SOLAS regulation V/23 and new mandatory performance standards for pilot transfer arrangements in June 2024. It is anticipated that these will be approved by the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 109) in December and enter into force on 1 January 2028. We are very grateful to the Member States and observers at IMO who contributed so much to finalising this work in a relatively short time. To complement this, IMPA published Pilot Transfer Operations in May 2024, aimed at everyone else involved in safe pilot transfers. We recognise that the safety of maritime pilots is not just the responsibility of shipping companies and masters.
S4S: In your view, has the industry been successful in enhancing its safety performance? What are the lessons learned and what should be the next steps?
M.W.: We support proactive initiatives by shipowners and operators to enhance pilot transfer safety. Safety is, of course, a driver, but now so is energy efficiency. With shipping needing to optimise operations to reduce energy demand, a non-compliant pilot transfer arrangement is an easily avoided risk. Now, being safe brings co-benefits for efficiency—not a new lesson but an important one. That said, we would encourage those taking proactive steps to consider alternatives to revisiting prohibited, high-risk approaches involving mechanical hoists.
S4S: What is your key message to industry stakeholders for enhanced pilotage safety?
M.W.: Maritime pilots provide specialised and localised knowledge, expertise, and experience to ensure the safety of navigation, protection from waterborne pollution, and the efficient movement of ships. There is a justifiable interest in ensuring the safety of maritime pilots on duty, but we should not lose sight of why maritime pilots directing the navigation of ships matter. Where pilotage is effectively regulated, and pilots can exercise their professional judgement free from commercial pressures, then whatever a stakeholder’s interest in a ship, they are assured that during high-risk phases of a voyage, that ship is in good hands.
The views presented are only those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.