Who are Marine Pilots? Australasian Marine Pilots Institute

The Australasian Marine Pilots Institute is the professional body representing marine pilots throughout Australasia. It assists in the setting of standards, safety management and provides support and guidance with ongoing professional development. AMPI provides advice to regulators on how to improve operational safety in our ports, and ensures that member pilots and their organisations continue to lead in world’s best practice. Together with its partners, AMPI has developed a set of training standards for both initial and continual training for pilots. As a partner of the International Marine Pilots Association, AMPI also has input into all important decisions made by the International Maritime Organisation. Since the first settlement of Sydney Cove in 1788, marine pilotage has played an important role in Australia. One of the first pilots, Robert Watson, was a midshipman in the First Fleet vessel HMS Sirius. Once a safe path from Sydney Heads to the Cove was sounded out, in 1811 it became Mr Watson’s job to ensure that future vessels to and from the new settlement were safely navigated among the dangerous currents and rocks, to deliver their essential cargo. As the settlement grew, so did the pilotage requirement. Based in Watsons Bay (named after the aforementioned Robert Watson) a small team of professionals trained up and formed the colony’s first pilot service. They would row out to sea in a flat bottom whaler, board the incoming ship using a rope ladder and safely guide the vessel in. New pilotage services were established around the country to service the developing colonies, with Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin ports all starting their own pilotage services. In addition, many smaller ports- some now non-existent- had resident pilots to guide the ocean going vessels in and out of port, often through very treacherous conditions. Not much has changed in over 230 years; pilots still meet vessels off the port entrance. Thankfully whalers are a thing of the past; now smaller diesel powered boats carry the pilots to their charges. Once alongside a vessel, the pilot must still climb the proffered rope ladder, sometimes through a distance of nine metres, just as their forebears did. If a port predominantly services vessels able to take a helicopter, aerial transfers may be the norm, with pilot boats used either as a backup or when conditions preclude the use of a helicopter. Pilots are skilled at all weather operations. They can conduct their vessels through strong winds, heavy seas, fog and rain. Most have been Master Mariners with years of seagoing experience before becoming specially trained as pilots. Sometimes recruits have even operated their own ships within a port after being trained and granted a pilotage exemption.