What Does a Harbor Pilot Do? A Former LA Harbor Pilot Explains

Most people have never heard of harbor pilots until something goes wrong. Then they learn that the large ship that just hit a bridge or a pier was not being steered by her own captain, and they want to know why.

I did this job in Los Angeles Harbor after years as a tanker master. Here is what it looks like from the inside.

Local knowledge, delivered in person

A ship's master may visit a port a few times a year. A pilot works that port every day. He knows the channel depths and where the shoaling is, how the current sets at different stages of the tide, where the wind funnels between terminals, how the tugs work, what the berths look like, and how ships of every size behave in that water.

That knowledge cannot be printed on a chart. So the system brings it to the ship. The pilot boards before the ship enters restricted waters and conducts her through to the berth, or out to sea.

Boarding

The job begins with a climb. Pilots usually board from a pilot boat by ladder, sometimes in the dark and in a swell, onto a ship that is still moving. It is one of the most dangerous moments in the profession, and the rules for rigging pilot ladders are detailed for a reason.

The exchange

Once on the bridge, the pilot and master trade information: the ship's draft, handling, and any defects on one side, and the plan for the transit, tugs, traffic, and berthing on the other. Then the pilot takes the conn, giving helm and engine orders and directing the tugs, while the master keeps command of the ship.

The transit and the berth

The pilot manages speed, the turns, the passing of other traffic, communication with vessel traffic service and other pilots, and the tugs. The final approach to a berth is usually the most demanding part: a large, slow-reacting ship, close to fixed structures, with wind and current working on her and tugs pushing and pulling on command.

State pilots and federal pilots

Pilotage in the United States has two tracks. Ships in foreign trade generally take state-licensed pilots, under rules each state sets. Vessels in the coastwise trade can use a federally licensed pilot, which is sometimes one of the ship's own officers holding a Coast Guard pilotage endorsement for that route. Which system applied can matter in litigation, and it is something counsel should pin down early.

Why ships need them

Because the most dangerous water a ship sees is often the last few miles. Open ocean is wide. Harbors are narrow, crowded, shallow in places, and full of things that do not move out of the way. Pilots exist because experience in that specific water prevents accidents that general seamanship alone cannot.

What this means in a case

When a casualty happens under pilotage, the investigation looks at the pilot's decisions, the master's monitoring, and how the two worked together. Having done both jobs, I look at a pilotage case from both sides of the bridge.

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About the author

Captain Mitchell S. Stoller is a Master Mariner Unlimited, former Exxon tanker master, and former Los Angeles Harbor pilot. About Captain Stoller