A recent decision by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to train its helicopter pilots and engineers in-house has raised safety concerns among shipping lines. The lines are worried that the chopper commanders f lying ships’ pilots to and from vessels offshore by helicopter at the Port of Durban will have little experience of this high-risk task after TNPA decided to dispense with the private company that was supplying the crews for the TNPAowned helicopters up to last month The end of this public/ private contract was confirmed by Vaughan Peacock, MD of Acher Aviation, as being from January 31. Despite his company also having an agreement to assist with training up the TNPA pilots while actually working the job, Peacock admitted that he had heard nothing more from TNPA on this matter. This means that the shipping lines will be obliged to use a motor launch for pilot transfers until the pilot training is finished. TNPA has said that will be a 6-8 week wait till its own chopper pilots get behind the controls, but FTW shipping contacts in the know suggested that this could be read as months rather than weeks. The fear here, said Peter Besnard, CEO of the SA Association of Ship Operators and Agents (Saasoa), is that ships could be delayed. This is especially so if adverse weather conditions prevail. And, when TNPA (Portnet as it was then) was promoting the launch of the helicopter service in 1998, it pointed this out in its comparison of air and sea services. “A helicopter pilotage service offers several advantages over pilot boats,” it said. “These include: a faster response time (7.5 minutes by helicopter as opposed to 42 minutes by pilot boat in Durban); increased productivity for the pilots and tugs and less downtime between ships; a helicopter can operate under more severe weather conditions; safer boarding conditions for pilots (no rope ladders to climb); and less dwell time for ships in port.” Besnard also complained that the lines would also still have to pay the pilotage tariffs as if helicopters were used. “The TNPA had these plans, but it didn’t sit down and discuss them with the industry,” he told FTW. “But the traps have now been set, and there is nothing we can do apart from express our displeasure.” Meanwhile, a highly experienced helicopter operator pointed out the dangers in TNPA using newly trained helicopter crews. “You can’t just transfer from training to commanding a helicopter on such an extremely specialised, complex and high-risk task,” he told FTW. “It is internationally accepted that a trained pilot would sit in the co-pilot’s seat for two to three years before he has enough experience to be classified as a ‘day commander’. And it’s about another two years until he can f ly the machine both in daylight and at night.” He also pointed out that many of the pilots who took on this task actually came from air force backgrounds, with experience in mountain and sea rescue. “But they’d still have to do a stint as a co-pilot until they were considered safe enough to take command,” he added. “It’s certainly not a job for raw-behind-the ears trainees. Too much is at stake in lives and highcost damages for this to happen.” INSERT Shipping lines will be obliged to use a motor launch for pilot transfers until the pilot training is finished.
