I’m confused. Is it their lack of knowledge of the route (pilotage) or ability to handle the boat? I’m a blue water guy and wouldn’t know the first thing about driving a tractor tug and would let you know that up front. If I had the pilotage for NY harbor, I may have the necessary trips by the letter of the law and have successfully drawn the chart but probably not as many trips as a harbor tug mate.
I’m fairly confidemt that given a certain amount of time I would have sufficient local knowledge to do the job and do it well. Every job requires on the job training and some amount of patience from the trainer. I get new chief Mates who have decades of experience but they still need to get up to speed on our particular ship and company. I don’t view it as comedy. I view it as business as usual.