PNG lacks the capacity in marine piloting

The number of Marine Pilots in Papua New Guinea currently stands at 40 or more, and with the upcoming oil and gas projects, there will be a need for additional Pilots.

During the Australasia Marine Pilot Institute regional conference in Port Moresby this week, stakeholders expressed serious concerns.

Josephine Clark, the President of AMPI, stated that the National Maritime Safety Authority has emphasized this issue, and the Pilot service providers have also reiterated it.

Clark pointed out that there are significant gaps in Pilot training and licensing in PNG, as many regulations are still under review. She suggested that improving the efficiency of training and coordinating Pilots' movements between regions would help address these challenges.

"And addressing the short-term shortage of people [pilots]by increasing training will go a long way to improve efficiency and particularly if the country decides to move to a model where Pilots are restricted to a particular region rather than working throughout the country, I think that should create a lot of efficiencies," Captain Clark said.

Captain Clark further added that in order for PNG to move into meeting international standards in Pilotage it requires a multi-step path in regulations, technology and standards.

She encouraged the Pilot service providers including PNG Ports, Niugini Pilots Limited [who are the members of AMPI] and others to join AMPI and learn from them.

"The National Act and Regulation just provides the framework and within that the pilot service providers are hopefully members of the professional society such as AMPI so they can make use of the resources and coach of best practice that we publish.

"And then the implementation of their own safety management system is one example but others is probably the icing on the cake, you put those things in place, and you have a robust system," Clark added.