Submariner!
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Captain Don Cockroft who is the chairman of the UK Marine Pilots Association asserts that there is a ticking time bomb in the pilot’s pension. In August edition of YM, he suggests that the yachtsman should pay up to cover the £198 million black hole in the pilot’s pension pot.
There is absolutely no doubt that Pilots form an essential service to the commercial maritime sector. National laws in most countries require a pilot to be on board of most ships over 20m in length whilst transiting through harbours. This is sensible as there is a sense of assurance for small boat users in the port areas that there is a qualified person on the bridge who has a command of the local language and local knowledge of the port and its operations.
In the 1990’s a well renowned pilot Captain Tony Starling Lark, a deep sea pilot formed the Sea Safety Group (SSG(UK)) which was a forum to lobby for safety at sea, promote understanding between different types of vessels and best environmental practice. This movement seen yachtsmen going to see on container vessels and ferry skippers spending a few days on a fishing boat. The key thing for our yachting community was that SSG spawned the National Coastwatch Institution which has been going strong for over 20 years.
The pilot’s job is dangerous, at times as we need to get out local experts on board foreign ships so that they can enter port safely. So whether it’s a local pilot or deep sea pilot, I have utmost respect for the profession which has contributed so much to this maritime nation.
I do however have to take issue with Captain Cockcroft’s position regarding the need to perhaps claw back more money from the yachtsman to fill the hole in the pension pot. We need to put things into perspective here and now. The YM article suggests that most yacht owners earn more than a Pilot. I am sure that there will be plenty like myself on modest income. I earn nowhere near what a Pilot earns, let alone the bankers in the City of London. I am lucky enough to have enough money to own a yacht and keep it on a club mooring. A posh marina is out of the question for me, but having been able to afford a berth in Shamrock Quay for a few years only, I can assure Captain Cockroft that we are already paying the highest fees in the EU for standard berths (I acknowledged that Antibes is massively expensive, but can we really compare Ocean Village in the same style?)
The central premise of the argument is that marina growth is blamed for the pension’s time bomb. This is completely fantasy. Here are some examples as to why this argument is flawed.
• Cross channel ferries moved to Portsmouth from Southampton after 1983. The area of docks used for the ferries laid unused for many years until ABP licenced that area to MDL and ocean village was commissioned in 1988. I would imagine that continuous revenue to port has been assured since then. If a marina had not been build, then no revenue would have been generated.
• Hythe Marina, Port Solent, a number of marina’s in the Channel Islands and Haslar Marina are results of engineering projects digging marinas from reclaimed land (or landfill in the case of Port Solent).
• Universal Boatyard, Shamrock Quay and even Bucklers Hard were former yards where boats were built.
• Whitehaven in the 1990s was a muddy hole in pore repair, now as a result of Millennium investment a flourishing marina on the NW Coast of England.
When I weigh up the evidence, Marinas have not caused the ticking time bomb in pilot pensions, perhaps it’s down to bad management? Lack of foresight or perhaps utter greed? Most Pilots I know are ex-merchant navy captains and quite possibly on a pension from their former shipping line (Or Royal Navy) as well as the second career pension from being a pilot. Don’t get me wrong, I like all people to be paid what they are due, but as with all other sectors, if the industry collapses, then that industry need to somehow pick up the tab for their liabilities in the same way as a person buying a house would not be asked to settle credit card debts or arrears of previous residents. If we agree to pay off pilots, then where would this nonsense stop? For a port to run, there are stevedores, tug masters, crane drivers, porters only to name just a fraction of the many professions which is essential to make a port work.
Every effort needs to be made to resists this call. Firstly, because in these times the average yachtsmen are not seeing year on year pay rises so are in the squeezed middle. But also other professions of the former docks will say “me to” Finally one further thought: A stepped increase will drive a lot of job creating businesses around our marinas to close up for good.
There is absolutely no doubt that Pilots form an essential service to the commercial maritime sector. National laws in most countries require a pilot to be on board of most ships over 20m in length whilst transiting through harbours. This is sensible as there is a sense of assurance for small boat users in the port areas that there is a qualified person on the bridge who has a command of the local language and local knowledge of the port and its operations.
In the 1990’s a well renowned pilot Captain Tony Starling Lark, a deep sea pilot formed the Sea Safety Group (SSG(UK)) which was a forum to lobby for safety at sea, promote understanding between different types of vessels and best environmental practice. This movement seen yachtsmen going to see on container vessels and ferry skippers spending a few days on a fishing boat. The key thing for our yachting community was that SSG spawned the National Coastwatch Institution which has been going strong for over 20 years.
The pilot’s job is dangerous, at times as we need to get out local experts on board foreign ships so that they can enter port safely. So whether it’s a local pilot or deep sea pilot, I have utmost respect for the profession which has contributed so much to this maritime nation.
I do however have to take issue with Captain Cockcroft’s position regarding the need to perhaps claw back more money from the yachtsman to fill the hole in the pension pot. We need to put things into perspective here and now. The YM article suggests that most yacht owners earn more than a Pilot. I am sure that there will be plenty like myself on modest income. I earn nowhere near what a Pilot earns, let alone the bankers in the City of London. I am lucky enough to have enough money to own a yacht and keep it on a club mooring. A posh marina is out of the question for me, but having been able to afford a berth in Shamrock Quay for a few years only, I can assure Captain Cockroft that we are already paying the highest fees in the EU for standard berths (I acknowledged that Antibes is massively expensive, but can we really compare Ocean Village in the same style?)
The central premise of the argument is that marina growth is blamed for the pension’s time bomb. This is completely fantasy. Here are some examples as to why this argument is flawed.
• Cross channel ferries moved to Portsmouth from Southampton after 1983. The area of docks used for the ferries laid unused for many years until ABP licenced that area to MDL and ocean village was commissioned in 1988. I would imagine that continuous revenue to port has been assured since then. If a marina had not been build, then no revenue would have been generated.
• Hythe Marina, Port Solent, a number of marina’s in the Channel Islands and Haslar Marina are results of engineering projects digging marinas from reclaimed land (or landfill in the case of Port Solent).
• Universal Boatyard, Shamrock Quay and even Bucklers Hard were former yards where boats were built.
• Whitehaven in the 1990s was a muddy hole in pore repair, now as a result of Millennium investment a flourishing marina on the NW Coast of England.
When I weigh up the evidence, Marinas have not caused the ticking time bomb in pilot pensions, perhaps it’s down to bad management? Lack of foresight or perhaps utter greed? Most Pilots I know are ex-merchant navy captains and quite possibly on a pension from their former shipping line (Or Royal Navy) as well as the second career pension from being a pilot. Don’t get me wrong, I like all people to be paid what they are due, but as with all other sectors, if the industry collapses, then that industry need to somehow pick up the tab for their liabilities in the same way as a person buying a house would not be asked to settle credit card debts or arrears of previous residents. If we agree to pay off pilots, then where would this nonsense stop? For a port to run, there are stevedores, tug masters, crane drivers, porters only to name just a fraction of the many professions which is essential to make a port work.
Every effort needs to be made to resists this call. Firstly, because in these times the average yachtsmen are not seeing year on year pay rises so are in the squeezed middle. But also other professions of the former docks will say “me to” Finally one further thought: A stepped increase will drive a lot of job creating businesses around our marinas to close up for good.
