Hi from a Marine Pilot - studied at Warsash

[Pilot Chris]

Hi all

Im presently a Marine Pilot at a major port in Australia, I grew up in the south of England and studied at Warsash with Trininty House and then spent over a decade with P&O Princess Cruises before moving to Oz to be a Shore Side company Safety Manager and then being a Pilot.

I hope to be able to offer some guidance from my years on Cargos (under trininty house) / Cruise (P&O / Princess etc) / Shore Safety side (as fleet Safety Manager) and finally in my present role as a Pilot.

I still remember all the questions I had at each stage of my career - Cadet to 3/0 to 2/0 to S2/0 to 1/0 etc etc!

Cheers

Chris

[YoungMariner]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

[GuinnessMan]

Hello, welcome and chuck a few shrimps on the barbie....

[Dingo]

Hello Pilot, would you like a coffee?

I have a few questions please if you have the time:

What were the entry requirements to become a pilot i.e. just a masters ticket or some years experience as master?
How long and what was the training like?
Did you do the training before you applied for a job or does the job put you through/pay for your training?
Is the pay comparable to master?
Did you ever get seasick in the wee pilot boat?
Do captains always heed your advice? Is it a stressful job?
What is your work pattern, like shifts or something or week on week off, etc?

Cheers

[Pilot Chris]

Thanks guys

Dingo- Normally master class 1 and ship handling experienece.

Training is normally a couple of years, you go under supervision from 100m to 150m to 200m etc and have to do a certain amount of trips in to each berth, at each stage of the tide, day and night.
Training is on the job but you get sent on manned model courses, advanced Pilot BRM etc.

Starting salary here for Pilots is a lot lot more than an average Captain gets - (see my comment on stress below!)

Seasick not really but it does knacker you out.

Captain relationships are a big part of our job, at the end of the day you have to build mutual trust, if they don't follow your commands then we have a few ways of dealing with it. Normally on big ships its not a problem as we do all the maneuvering and tug work.

Stress - dealing with big ships, multiple tugs, strong tides in close proximity to structures that if you damaged you could cause millions upon millions of pounds of damage means that you do have a little bit of pressure!

Ports differ but I work 4 days on 4 days off, 12 hour shifts, with 6 weeks leave a year.

Hope that answers your questions


Cheers

Chris

Hello Pilot, would you like a coffee?

I have a few questions please if you have the time:

What were the entry requirements to become a pilot i.e. just a masters ticket or some years experience as master?
How long and what was the training like?
Did you do the training before you applied for a job or does the job put you through/pay for your training?
Is the pay comparable to master?
Did you ever get seasick in the wee pilot boat?
Do captains always heed your advice? Is it a stressful job?
What is your work pattern, like shifts or something or week on week off, etc?

Cheers

[Dingo]

Hey thanks a lot, that was really interesting and informative.

Just a couple more please:

On average how many ships do you berth in a 12 hour shift?

It sound like quite a enviable position given the salary, being shore based and decent time off, I take it that it is a very competitive job to get into with a billion applicants? Does the stress mean people don't tend to do it so long? Do pilot jobs come up often enough or is it a very long wait?

Thanks again

[Pilot Chris]

Hi Dingo

The amount of ships varies but anything from 1 to 6 a shift (the pilotage in my port is about 2 hours) but we do a bit of paperwork with berth schedules etc.

It is very competitive to get into (especially here in Oz) and I was lucky to get in, my position had over 80 applicants with nearly 30 suitable applicants. The UK has a few more openings and indeed a few of my Warsash buddy's are Pilots in the UK.

Cheers

Chris