Any recent news on Ever Forward grounding?

Unfortunately, might I suggest that you are the strawman (sic) within this discussion.

image

Here is why:

1 Like

:grinning: ……clearly the big fella has not fitted TCAS to the sleigh.

1 Like

Yeah - obviously there is no way to stop in mid-air and grab a new pilot.
The old Hong Kong approach required a pilot trained for that airport specifically, if the normal crew wasn’t they had to make sure and get someone approved for that specific airport for that leg.
135 on-demand we went all kinds of random places we had never been before, I can’t recall an entire airport anywhere in the USA we couldn’t go to, but Aspen and probably some others I have long forgotten had special approaches that we couldn’t do without special training and/or equipment we didn’t have.
Back to boats, isn’t there a thing like checking out for an approach in the Great Lakes were a skipper can get certified to pilot himself???

In New Zealand a pilotage exemption certificate is limited by tonnage and length apart from ferries. Our ferries are quite large and dry dock usually in Singapore.
The pilotage exemption certificate is issued after successfully completing an exam on the Local regulations of the port, correctly filling in the detail of a blank chart and completing 6 entries and departures 3 of which have to be at night under an examining pilot.
You don’t put yourself up for an exemption until you are very familiar with the port.

Short answer, no for foreign flag vessels and US flag vessels on international voyages (some reciprocal exceptions for Canadian vessels in the Great Lakes and Puget Sound).

Long answer, US flag vessels that are both certified (as endorsed on the vessel’s Certificate of Documentation) and actually sailing on a coastwise (ie Jones Act) voyage are only required to be under the conduct of a federally-licensed pilot (except in Prince William Sound). The USCG terms this license “First Class Pilot” (FCP). The threshold to obtain a FCP license is far less demanding than that of a state pilot (all state pilots also hold federal pilot licenses for their district) and is not limited to certain groups or members. FCP license requirements vary slightly in different districts but the basic jist is that a certain number of observation trips are required over the route on vessels of sufficient size during both day and night. The applicant also has to draw the chartlet from memory and do some form of a local knowledge exam that is typically extracted from the Coast Pilot and/or Light List.

A key (major) difference from that of a state pilot is that obtaining an FCP license requires absolutely zero practical demonstration of skill in either navigational/channel/river/bay piloting or in close-quarters shiphandling. A state pilot will have gone through a training/apprentice program where not only is the FCP license earned, but the other skills mentioned must be developed and demonstrated before being issued a state license (usually with vessel size, type or draft restrictions at first).

In the real world, outside of some parts of the towing/ATB sector (which opens a whole other can of worms with “acting as pilot”, recency, etc), a ship even with a deck officer who happens to have an FCP license for a particular port will not, for many reasons notwithstanding the legality of it, be doing the work as a pilot and a state pilot will be hired (who is technically then working under the authority of their federal FCP license).

There are a few more nuances (such as the work that Federal Pilot groups do, foreign yacht exemptions in different districts, international ferry crossings) but that’s the basics.

2 Likes

Santa’s fault, no ADSB out on his sleigh.

What about down on the bayou and old muddy river?

River pilots have to get FCP before they can get their state license.

Notwithstanding the process for how apprentices/trainees are selected (which, yes, varies widely by locale), each and every state pilot goes through a rigorous training program to develop and demonstrate tangible piloting skills as required by the state they’re seeking a license in. There’s no getting around that.

The testing and issuance of just a FCP license requires no such rigor. It’s merely an academic exercise (trips and testing).

1 Like

When I read the CG report took no notice of “Pilot # 1” used . It is my impression, not a fact I can support, Maryland Association requires two pilots on board full bay transit. This for relief on the long transit, two not present on the bridge same time.

Is this correct ?

Confirmed Ever Forward had one Maryland Pilot on board. They do require two for some some transits. It depends on the anticipated Chesapeake Bay passage time.

A State Pilot pay more attention to his phone than to guiding the ship he is assigned to
The Pilot gets fired and the operator of the ship gets a fine for disrupting the business for the Oyster Bars in the State of Maryland??:

Hope that includes awful arthur’s oyster bar - Google Search
I see they have closed, probably because of lack of oysters from the spot where EF grounded (??)

They are closed for the winter, they’ll reopen this spring. There are plenty of oyster farms and reefs up and down the bay. Oddly enough where the EF grounded is just a mud flat (from what I remember).

Did he get removed from the pilot association? I read the USCG suspended his license (6months???)

License suspended by the CG, fired from the Assn

Not true. As noted in the CG report, Germac was operating under his Maryland State Pilot License and not under the authority of his Federal Pilot License. Therefore, no suspension & revocation action against the pilot’s U.S. Coast Guard issued merchant mariner credential (federal) was made.

The Maryland Board of Pilots, in a unanimous decision, voted to summarily suspend the operating license of Captain Steven Germac on October 20, 2022, and formally notified Captain Germac by letter dated October 21, 2022. But he gets to appeal that suspension.

From report:

6.2.1. 46 USC § 7703(1) authorizes Suspension and Revocation (S&R) action against a merchant mariner’s credential if, while acting under the authority, the mariner commits an act of negligence. 46 USC Chapter 85 outlines the fundamental construct for the jurisdiction over pilots, Federal and State. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that a State pilot, not required to hold a license under federal law, is not acting under the authority of the pilot’s federal license, although it is required by the State before it will issue the State license [See Soriano v. U.S., 494 F. 2d 681 (9th Cir. 1974)]. Additionally, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana decided that former 46 USC § 214 does not, by itself, authorize enforcement proceedings against federal licenses held by pilots acting under authority of State licenses [See Dietze v. Siler, 414 F. Supp. 1105, (E.D. LA., 1976)]. It is U.S. Coast Guard policy (USCG Marine Safety Manual, Volume V: Investigation and Enforcement, Part B, Chapter 9, Subpart E.6) to follow the Soriano and Dietze decisions in cases involving pilots acting under the authority of State commissions.
6.2.2. Due to the EVER FORWARD being foreign flagged and not engaged in coastwise trade, Pilot 1 was operating under his Maryland State Pilot License and not under the authority of his Federal Pilot License. Therefore, no S&R action against the pilot’s U.S. Coast Guard issued merchant mariner credential (federal) is recommended.

1 Like

Muddy tasting oysters maybe??
Glad to hear that “Awful Arthur’s” didn’t go bankrupt because of the grounding, only took a winter break. Hope they get a shear of the money the state is cashing in to tidy them over until spring, thought.

PS> Lot of jokes here on the forum about “Quarreling/Incompetent Pilots”, “Ctns. of Marlboro” and “Greedy Egyptian Authorities” after the Ever Given incident. Not so much here.

Not really the same issue, is it? One of the two associations you are comparing is recognized globally for graft and incompetence. Not many Maryland pilots smoke any more so the Marlboros don’t serve a purpose. And probably will not be using their phones quite as much.

But I’ve read quite a few jokes about those poor oysters and blue crabs.

Which one?? Have you been following the news from Washington D.C. lately?