It would be helpful and interesting to hear the thoughts and experiences of some other Pilots on these boards. @NWWaterman, @kapena, @New3M, @OneEighteen ……
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Yes it would as Ausmariner and myself seem to be dominating the conversation.
I think I am correct in thinking that Australian Pilots like us in the UK have extensive seagoing experience before even stating training as a pilot. All the major ports in the UK still have a minimum entry requirement to hold a Master Unrestricted Licence.
244,
I commenced Pilotage training in the mid 1990’s and as a minimum was required to have a valid Unlimited Master Class 1 certificate plus a minimum of 5 years command time before being granted an interview. Unfortunately, the Australian Merchant Navy has imploded owing to the adoption of other flag states tonnage and this has completely compromised the available bank of experienced Australian Mariners. The gene pool has diminished although, generally, the minimum requirement of a valid Master Class 1 Certificate still stands.
Thanks for that 
I know that a few of my former colleagues left and served in Aus ports. Not all of them British Nationals.
We have a similar problem in the UK with a diminishing gene pool but we have been saved from disaster by being part of The EU until recently. Where things go in the future is anyone’s guess. Just glad I don’t have to be part of that decision making process anymore.
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As an aside, I believe that your practice of placing two Pilots on the larger tonnage is very well considered. One might even suggest that it goes someway to addressing the patent failures of single Pilot BRM.
I was a pilot in Houston for 30 years. BRM became a thing after I started piloting. It’s one of those ideas that makes great sense on paper and looks fine in training manuals, but in real life I didn’t find it overly useful as a organized concept. I did 6,000 trips and in that time there were several times where the captain or mate saved me from making a stupid mistake. But there were many more times when the bridge team was totally oblivious. I once met another tanker that crowded us so badly I had to put the rudder hard right and order full sea speed to keep from taking a run into him - only to have the captain bring over a menu and casually ask about my lunch choices while our bow was passing about 2 meters from his stern. I could tell a lot of funny/sad stories here.
What I told the young pilots was “trust but verify”. If you ask the mate on the bow if the bow will swing clear verify with the bow tug and the linemen and check your PPU. If the captain on a ship with a variable pitch propeller says it’s right handed it may or may not be. About 1 in 5 cases they are wrong.
So if you don’t know if the mate can judge distance and the captain is often wrong about which way his propeller turns and no one on the bridge can figure out how to put the radar head up (yes, we use it that way) with fixed rings what do you do? You make your own routine that allows you to take the ships up and dock them using your own resources.
BRM is not going away and there is no need to ignore or dismiss the crew’s questions or input. Especially it is important to be open and polite - after all, you are representing your country to a certain extent and once in a while you want someone to clear their throat politely when you are about to pull a bonehead stunt. Always be aware of the Voice Data Recorder over your head. If you are in shut out fog set the radar and PPU next to each other and continue piloting. It doesn’t hurt to ask the mate to sound the fog signal and pay extra attention to the helmsman and rudder angle indicator. It doesn’t hurt to ask the captain to tell the bow lookout he’ll be seeing a tug and barge shortly even though you have talked to the operator and see he’s not a problem. Just remember your part has to be a routine that you do in a way that accepts help but doesn’t rely on it.
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Not every port in the world vets and trains pilots as thoroughly as does Houston. As a rule of thumb ports in less developed countries tend to have less well organized ports. Some have excellent pilots, tugs etc, some don’t.
I and many other captains could tell stories as well. Either way it’s a good idea to have a competent bridge team for areas that don’t require pilots, Singapore Strait for example.
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Granted it’s anecdotal but one of the pilots we got in Manama was barely old enough to shave. He spent quite some time telling us how excited he was about his upcoming trip to America to see Disneyland. It doesn’t mean he wasn’t up to it but it made me wonder how he got the job.
I guess it might depend on how you define the job.
I could “pilot” a big tanker in and out of Baltimore all day if all I had to do was say “go that way”, I know the channels here in my sleep.
If I had to actually figure out what rudder angle would make the turn, well you just might have another ship stuck in the mud to make fun of!
- tie up to that pier over there with all the pipes and hoses, OK. What do you mean you don’t know how to do that, do you think I do?
CRM as practiced in commercial airplanes means you are flying with people from the same company that went to the same class you did and you all have the same rule book.
BRM with people that you have never seen before and likely don’t speak English as their first language has got to be more of a challenge!
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If you don’ have a competent bridge team the ARE private pilot service available in the Malacca and Singapore Straits:
https://www.malaccastraitspilots.com.sg/en/
This is NOT a rip off, or some amateur operation, but approved by the three littoral states:
PS> My Father-in-Law, used to do straits pilotage for APL back in the 1970s.
His company also did berthing pilotage for Shell in Port Dickson.
Maybe another dumb question:
How often do pilot boats do a “follow me” operation and don’t actually put anyone aboard the ship?
That’s an easy one.
They don’t.
Or should I say they don’t over this side of the Pond and nowhere else I have been in my seagoing career
I think YS is asking why can’t he Pilot a big Tanker in an area that he is familiar with.
I will turn that around and ask why A Cessna 150 pilot is not allowed to land an A380 at an airport he is familiar with.
Or turn it on its head and ask why Perfectly competent and qualified Captains will hand over the Conn to us Pilots Willingly even when they are very familiar with the area.
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MAY happen in some places and at times of bad weather, when boarding would be too dangerous.
But only to lead the ship into more protected waters where boarding IS possible.
PS> Some places would just tell the Master to stay hoved-to at a safe distance from shore until the weather improve. (Or use helicopter for boarding)
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For many years in the States it was not unusual at all for a few officers on a ship to hold federal pilotage for their usual runs, and do their own work. Companies would even pay them for doing it. It was not a bad practice and lead to most deck officers taking a much greater interest in shiphandling in confined waters. All kind of changed post Valdez. Taking pilots, needed or not, became most companies policy as cheap insurance.
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Years ago when going up the Kuskokwim River to Bethel, Alaska we would follow the pilot boat, no pilot aboard. I forget the pilot organization back then. They would pilot us 100 miles up river to pick up cargoes of salmon.
Now, they did that procedure with US Aleutian freighters. I don’t know if they did so with the bigger, foreign trampers they also conducted. The issue with us was strictly avoiding sandbars. Once at Bethel we docked ourselves. For the foreign trampers tying-up would be more difficult and need tugs, so maybe the pilot had to be aboard them.
The original intent/purpose of this thread was “BRM- A Pilot’s Perspective”.
“ I know there are several passed and present Pilots here,.
Any comments to his perspective?:”
Clearly, other Pilots on these boards, apart from OneEighteen, 244 and myself, have chosen not to to participate. Commentary from non-Pilots has now changed the original intent into commentary on Pilots yet this is borne out of experience with one individual and not innumerable bridge teams. Your experience is with your own SINGULAR bridge team…….there is a bigger world out there.
Perhaps the Moderators could split this off now and start another thread………”Why do we need Pilots and what has been your experiences?
On most deep sea vessels I’m aware of it’s essentially a different bridge team every trip so that’s just patently false.
Indeed………your team managed by you……you are always in the team……SINGULAR.