What's a 'pilot boat'? Does everyone know, if not please read what I have learnt when I was on board a Cruise Ship

in #travel6 years ago (edited)

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Today I am sharing this photo of a Pilot boat that guides the ships in and out of harbours or ports. I took this photo when I was on board the Cruise Ship, and out of curiosity, I asked one of the crew if he can explain what exactly is this 'pilot boat' and it's services. He seems knowledgable and started to explain that every ship that entered into a port or harbour, will need a ship pilot to guide for docking.

He explained that this pilot has to hold a professional license and must be certified and have a couple of years under his belt in order to do this job. The reason is that many lives and money are at risk if he makes an error or wrong judgement. Tankers can spill oil or damaged if they 'hit' the harbour or port. For Cruise liners, it can even cost lost of lives.

He advised that this is a highly paid job as this 'pilot' has to know the waters, wind for that port well, the tides timing pertaining to the season, the depth and the 'size' as he has to guide different types of ships into the harbour. Especially if there is a need to turn the ship around, the angle and space needed and if the current / tides / movement will cause any collision to other ships or vessels or hitting the side of the harbour or port.

Apparently this pilot also known as a Maritime Pilot, holds a heavy responsibility on his shoulder. He advised that these 'pilots' belongs to their own exclusive club and it is sort of a closed door club. This means not everyone can just go and take a license and hope to be in the 'In Group' and be given jobs to pilot.

I asked what's the difference then between this pilot verses the Captain of the Cruise that we were traveling on. He explained that the pilot is only responsible for bringing the ship safely into port with no time line to conform and less stress emotionally. Whereas the Captain of the ship will need to ensure the vessel arrive each port on time and on schedule. So he has a much bigger responsibility besides ensuring the safety of the passengers, he has to meet timeline or miss the tides and booking of the pilot to dock the ship. So economically he cannot afford to miss his timeline or it will cost the Cruise company to pay more for a new time slot. He claimed that the Captain has the final say on decision making if there is any dispute with the 'pilot' decision. He cited an example of a case whereby the Pilot was not comfortable to manoeuvre the ship around but suggested another method but involved more time. But the Captain of the boat did not want to waste time as afraid he will be late. He shared with us that the Captain has the authority to over ride the Pilot as the Captain at the end of the day will still be the person be responsible for the vessel.

This crew went on to advise us that for this itinerary that we were traveling on, they had to engage 'tender boat' to bring us when we dock at the next destination. He explained that the port water was not deep enough for a big Cruise ship like theirs so they use smaller boats known as tenders to bring us to shore. Told us to wear comfortable foot wear, not loose ones or might drop into the water when we disembarked to the smaller boat. These boats will dock us at the pier and we can walk right onto the beach. We can just walk around till the Cruise leaves or join any ground tours they have prepared for us. Remind us to be early and not miss the Cruise Ship especially there is an hour time difference after we land. They had chartered many of these Tender Boats to take care of the 3,000+ passengers and the schedule departing to and from the Cruise Ship is every 20 minutes. I must say they are very efficient and professional.

I personally found the information useful. I hope the above sharing has been useful and informative especially if you are going on a Cruise and do happen to witness a 'pilot boat' leading/ guiding your Cruise Ship out to International waters.

Photo : my own.

Thanks for reading and supporting.
@jackpot

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Hi@yourluckyphotos, thanks for the upvote and resteemed. Appreciate.
Thanks
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