English summary
Pilotage is one of the oldest, and least-known maritime
profession, but it is one of the most important link in maritime safety.
Nowadays, the actual economic and environmental risks, involving large ships,
make the role of the pilot really essential.
A pilot is an mariner adviser who guides a ship through
dangerous waters, fairways, harbours and river approaches. His role is to
assist the master by bringing local expertise, and pieces of advice during the
ship's passage at arrival, anchorage, or departure. The pilots provide a local
knowledge to make the safe passage of the ship safe, and to protect the
environment. They have an overall review of local regulations, port activities,
customs of the harbour and effect of the current or sounding. Also, they
provide communications with port authorities, Vessel Trafic System, tugs, and
other piloted ships.
Nowadays, in order to protect the environment and to improve the
safety of life at sea, pilotage services are mostly regulated in all the
European countries.
Firstly, pilotage is widely compulsory, each state being
entitled to define the limit of ships which need to be piloted. Most maritime
countries have areas designated as compulsory pilotage districts where ships
are not allowed to navigate unless licensed pilot. The reason of such a
decision is based on the needs of national public interest, keeping the safety
level and environment protection at his maximum.
Secondly, safe and efficient marine pilotage requires that
marine pilots operate in an independant environment which allows them to
exercise their professional judgement in an independant manner, without
competition or arrangements with shipowners.
Lastly, most jurisdictions in the European Union, have
concluded that the public interest, the marine safety and the necessity to
protect the environment and nearby populations, are best served through
pilotage services being provided on an exclusive basis, by a single group of
pilots, which take advantage of a monopolize position, in any given compulsory
area.
In order to exercise their functions, pilots may be
self-employed, or employed by a port, with different degrees of privatization,
or may be employed by a state, as public servants. But all the time, pilots are
organized as independant economic entities, grouping together in association,
or partnership, and are always subject to the government control.
However, the pilot is legally, only an advisor, as the master
remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel, keeping the ultimate
responsibility of the ship.
But the pilot executes the pilotage on his own civil
liability, as defined in the national pilotage legislation, called Pilotage
Act, but, according to the same principle, as the possibility for the
shipowners to limit their own liability, in accordance with LLMC 76 Convention,
the Pilotage Acts usually give the right to limit their civil liability. In
such a case, the civil pilot liability is largely limited to a certain amount
of money, because of the mere reason that a pilot has personal limited
resource, he may not be able to support the financial consequence of an
accident, and couldn't recover the large amounts of money incurred today.
Nevertheless, pilot limitation or exemption of liability are
waived when the court evaluate that there is a intent or gross negligent from
the pilot, but the burden of the proof rests on the person who attributes legal
consequences to these acts.
Consequently, the claims are mainly engaged against
organizations employing the pilots, or against the shipowner himself. Speaking
about the pilot civil liability, regarding the institution organizing the
pilotage service, some few problems may happened.
It is in the public interest for pilots to be able to not
commence, or to stop an unsafe operation without apprehension of adverse
consequences to their careers or livelihood, but their decision may affect
their relation with the organization employing them, leading sometimes to
severe reprimand.
Also, some few court cases shown the last years that the
harbour authority is not liable for the negligence of a pilot because a pilot
is a independent professional who navigates as a principal and not as the
servant or agent of his general employer
On the contrary, in some countries, some few cases of pursuit
were engaged against the state regulating the pilot services employing the
pilots, the claimers performing the pursuit as the pilot is an only a servant
of his general employer.
Last but not least, According to the Pilotage Acts, the liability
limits are some times so high, (as in Spain, or Italy) that pilots are obliged
to be insured against civil claims.
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