Florida Harbor Pilots Association

_________
NEWS

March 2016

Did You Know?

CONTACT FHPA
Captain Sam Stephenson, J.D.
PO Box 38294
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 224-0219 office
(954)336-4664 cell
captainsam4@yahoo.com

PortMiami contributes more than $28 billion annually to MiamiDade County and generates 207,000 direct, indirect, and induced
jobs.
- PortMiami

CAPTAIN TIMMEL HONORED

COUNCIL OF YACHT CLUBS

BY

THE

FLORIDA

CHARLOTTE HARBOR YACHT CLUB March 12, 2016 - Captain John Timmel recently
attended the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs
(FCYC) meeting, where he gave a presentation on
the Florida Harbor Pilots Association to the FCYC
Flag Officers and Directors, representing 36 yacht
clubs throughout the state. Captain Timmel was
also inducted as the Councils West Coast Fleet
Captain and USCG Liaison.

FHPA SCHOLARSHIP DEADLINE IS APPROACHING

ON THE HORIZON
Remember, if you have a
newsworthy item to share, please
submit the complete details to:
Kristen Bridges at
kristen@bascomllc.com
or (850) 222-2140.

The deadline to apply for the 2016 Florida Harbor Pilots Association
scholarship is April 20, 2016. Each year, the FHPA awards two minority
cadets attending any of the six maritime colleges nationwide who show
enthusiasm and aptitude for a possible career track as a harbor pilot within
the State of Florida a $2,500 scholarship, as well as the opportunity to
experience hands-on training and be exposed to all aspects of the harbor
pilot career. For more information on the FHPA Scholarship, please visit
http://bit.ly/1jzqtNM.

TAMPA ENCOURAGED BY FUNDING INCREASE

PORT STRATEGY - March 15, 2016 - Port
Tampa Bay commended the Florida
Legislature for an increase in the minimum
statuary amount for seaport funding through
the Florida Seaport Transportation and
Economic Development (FSTED) program.
To view this article in full, please visit http://bit.ly/1RdpYuj.

FloridaPilots.com | @FLHarborPilots | FB.com/FloridaHarborPilotsAssociation

Spotlight on PortMiami

Photos curtesy of PortMiami

PortMiami is one of 14 deepwater Florida ports and is owned and CAPT. LILLY VISITS BOOKER
operated by Miami-Dade County.
T. WASHINGTON SCHOOL
Every year, there are 27,000 commercial ship movements in Floridas
ports, carrying millions of tons of cargo and millions of passengers,
having a $66 billion wealth effect in our state. Virtually every ship that
enters and leaves Miami Harbor is under the navigational control of a
harbor pilot with the Biscayne Bay Pilots, commonly called the Miami
Pilots.
Miami Harbor is a busy, multi-use waterway that is shared by
commercial and recreational ships and boats of all kinds, resulting in a
$28 billion economic impact. Container ships and cruise ships make up
the vast majority of business of this economic engine, with the Miami
Pilots handling 6,000 ship movements last year.
Cargo and cruise ship owners have constantly introduced larger and
wider ships to Miami over the years. While the recent Deep Dredge
Project increased the depth of the ship channel from 42 feet to 50 feet,
the channel width has not changed in many years.
Like every other coastal state in America and every commercial seaport
in the world, the Miami Pilots are responsible for the safe navigation of
these ships each day of the year. Every day, pilots licenses are on the
line, as they are held accountable for the navigational safety of the port.
PortMiami never sleeps, so the Miami Pilots maintain an on-demand,
around-the-clock service with trained, experienced harbor pilots, a fleet
of pilot boats and dispatching services. These permanent investments in
infrastructure ensure that PortMiami enjoys safe and efficient flow of
commerce.

Recently, Captain Stuart Lilly taught

Booker T. Washington High School
students about his experience as a harbor
pilot.
Capt. Lilly taught
the class about his
responsibility
to
bring in and take
out every large
craft, from cruise
ships to oil tankers,
that makes their
way through PortMiami.
Chronicling his time in marine college
and being a ships mate, Capt. Lilly
showed how his career developed as he
grew, and gave
the
students
insight on how
theirs
could
follow the same
path.
After
showing
the
students how he
uses his instinct and experience to pilot
the ships as much as he uses charts and
radar, he had the students plot a course
for the port from five miles out using
compasses, rulers and oceanographic
maps.

As every seaport is different from the next, Floridas pilots complete a

two- to three-year intensive training program in the port for which they
are licensed. The Miami Pilots are trained only in Miami for this
specialized service, and are regularly consulted for their local
navigational expertise by the seaport director to assess the safety and
feasibility of bigger ships.

FloridaPilots.com | @FLHarborPilots | FB.com/FloridaHarborPilotsAssociation

Spotlight on PortMiami

Photos curtesy of PortMiami

Continued from page 2.

On busy weekends, as many as eight ships are moving simultaneously in Miami Harbor. The pilots work as a
team, so advanced planning by the Miami Pilots on ship arrivals and departures to ensure safe and efficient
navigation is crucial.
In addition to varying winds, shifting weather patterns and unpredictable recreational boaters, harbor pilots
must deal with ocean currents, tidal currents and river currents during a typical transit of a large ship. The
dredged channel begins three miles off Miami Beach, so pilots climb aboard ships two to three miles further
out in order to make the approach through the Gulf Stream Current. The narrow channel continues through the
Government Cut the one entrance into Miami Harbor and then splits
into two primary ship channels. They split at the busy intersection of
Fisher Island Turning Basin, where recreational boaters, passenger
ferries, fuel barges and Coast Guard ships cross day and night. This fourway junction is one of the few in the state that has no regulated speed
limit. Around this turning basin is an oil terminal, marinas, cargo
terminals, the pilot station and a U. S. Coast Guard base. The port is a
busy refueling center for the dozens of cruise ships home ported here, as
well as thousands of cargo ships.
Several private marine terminals surround PortMiami, to which the Miami Pilots navigate cargo ships, oil
tankers and yachts. Although the port dominates the maritime scene, these other terminals are an integral part
of local commerce. The variety of ships the pilots handle daily is extreme. During a typical 12-hour shift on
duty, a Miami Pilot might handle a 40-year-old general cargo ship loaded
with used cars, then handle a 1,000-foot, billion-dollar cruise ship filled
with 5,000 people and finally a loaded oil tanker with 15 million gallons of
oil.
So what separates the ship captains from harbor pilots? Each has their own
skill set and their specific role. The pilots independent judgment insulates
them from commercial pressures. Safety is first. For example, if high winds
demand the use of tugboats for handling a ship, the pilots judgment is not
clouded by pressures to save money for the ship owner by not using tugs.
Safety costs money; however, Floridas pilotage system costs nothing to the state or its citizens. Pilot costs are
a fraction of a percent of ship owners operating costs. There are plenty of exempted military ships that are
exempted from this service, but most of those ships still hire state-licensed harbor pilots. Why? Because they
value the service as low-cost providers of safety.

FloridaPilots.com | @FLHarborPilots | FB.com/FloridaHarborPilotsAssociation