By Gabriel Campos Roullet
During the last week of the administration of former President Gabriel Boric, the country’s first National Port Logistics Policy was approved, aimed at modernizing the development of the industry and foreign trade. However, the plan proposes studying the opening of the pilotage service, suggesting that it cease to be the exclusive responsibility of the Maritime Authority. This proposal has put Chilean pilots on alert, who demand to be included in the debates on the matter.
Within the framework of the conference “The Importance of Piloting and Pilotage in Chile”, PortalPortuario spoke with representatives of the sector, who analyzed the current challenges and underscored the need to occupy a leading role in the working groups for the implementation of new regulations.
In this regard, Krishna Martínez, president of the Port Pilots Association, expressed his concern about the recommendations established in the recently approved National Port Logistics Policy. He explained that the main concern lies in the possible opening to a new modality of private participation in the pilotage service.
“Our current aspirations are not knowing where the new policy is heading in terms of regulatory changes in the pilotage system. Initial ideas proposed privatizing the model, but without indicating the essential measures to control a private system and prevent it from getting out of control in an arbitrary manner, nor setting the limits to be able to work within a coherent legal framework that offers security to the service,” Martínez stated.
Furthermore, the pilots’ representative took the opportunity to explain how their current maneuvering system works, detailing what the hypothetical new protocol would be like. “The service is provided through the official pilots of the Navy, who are public officials; uniformed sailors who provide the service. In our case, we are natural persons appointed under strict parameters and we meet a series of requirements to work as pilots, both in ports and in channels. We are not private, because we provide the service to the State and the State provides it through our services or advice,” he emphasized.
“It cannot be said that we are private, because we have no influence on the tariff or on price negotiation; everything is regulated. The private sector could enter in another way, as occurs in some ports of the world where the service is provided by the shipping companies themselves through their own ship and pilotage agencies, in addition to their launches. There are also countries with pilot companies that are entirely private,” added Martínez.
For his part, Cristián Estay, president of the Association of Authorized Channel Pilots (APAC), stated that the guild has not been summoned to the working groups or to the debates organized by ministerial authorities for the implementation of the national policy.
In this regard, the representatives emphasized that it is essential for pilots to participate in these dialogue instances to contribute their technical vision to the process.
“More than a concern, we seek consensus so that we, as associate pilots, are considered in work meetings and in all those instances in which this new port logistics policy begins to be regulated. In short, we want to be considered in order to be able to contribute; we are the ones who board ships and the ones who have knowledge of the area. It would be tremendously positive to participate in the development of something that is of great relevance for the country and, of course, for the maritime sector, which is what concerns us,” Estay emphasized.
Regarding the main shortcomings in the practice of pilotage within Chilean ports, Krishna Martínez pointed out that “the major problem in this type of multi-port is the lack of port resources, specifically with regard to launches (both to transport the pilot team and support personnel), tugs, or the mooring men themselves, who are the ones who move between port facilities. This prevents carrying out simultaneous maneuvers at two different terminals, which inevitably implies delays in the execution of maneuvers.”
“This is one of the things that the new policy wants to control, but it will generate new commercial problems,” concluded the president of the Port Pilots Association.
