Don Cockrill: the realities of pilotage

Don Cockrill and his team in the UK Maritime Pilots Association are involved, he says “in trying to remedy, literally, centuries of mistrust”.

“Ports and pilots have historically often been two completely disparate groups, and even now when there are harbour developments ahead the port authority sometimes has an attitude of ‘we don’t need to involve you, its business’, or even, ‘you won’t understand and might hinder our commerciality’.” Of course it not been all one way, as the pilots, although key to getting the ships safely in and out, have not always been particularly free with their experience either.

Although Captain Cockrill admits there some way to go, efforts toward opening up dialogue are beginning to win through “with many pilotage groups and their home ports both gaining”.

Communication technology has made the difference. “Going back 25 years you really had to make the effort to go and visit someone or to write a letter to address an issue. Email is very useful, unlike a phone call it gives you time to think and it leaves a record. Of course it all comes down to talking at some point but electronic communication does lay the groundwork.”

Unfortunately the battle’s not just been on one front: “One of the biggest challenges has been getting the Government to understand the realities of pilotage. It really came to the fore when the Transport Select Committee undertook a review in 2012 including matters which potentially downgraded the quality of UK pilotage; it took a lot of work but I’d say we’ve now got good, personal relationships with the Department of Transport so now it’s an ongoing discussion rather than a battleground.”

Still, it’s not easy: “We are still fighting some bad legislation, and ports’ pilotage schemes remain unregulated so there’s nothing we can do even if we see bad or outright dangerous practices. It has to wait for an accident to happen.” Faced with this Captain Cockrill and his colleagues have only one option: keep plugging away at highlighting the need for good pilots and a sound rulebook.

Other projects take on evolving technology. Captain Cockrill is working with a PIANC group on simulators and experimental sensors bringing with him a dose of realism: “Simulations can be an excellent support but at present there are a number of limitations which ports and need to be aware of, such as the way it can lose focus when you get very close up. Of course in reality the last half metre happens in the blink of an eye.” And he is equally wary of relying on sims to evaluate pilot training: “you can recreate the man-machine interface but not the extra elements like how he will react to a tired, troubled crew.”

He also believes that the UK could do more to combat what he calls the ‘malaise of sea blindness’: “We don’t make the most of our ports: airports have public viewing galleries and I really think we could do something like that for our harbours.”