Technical Conference - The Pilotage Service and Maritime-Port Safety | Cádiz, September 2021

On September 16th and 17th, 2021, the Spanish Pilots’ Association (Colegio y Federación de Prácticos de España) held a Technical Conference about "The Pilotage Service and maritime-port safety", in the Assembly Hall of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Cádiz.

The Inauguration of this event was in charge of Mr. Francisco Piniella, Rector of the University of Cádiz, who was accompanied at the Presidency Table by the Presidents of the Colegio and Federación, Capt. Amador Gutiérrez and Capt. José Luis Saura. Also participating in this Table was the President of the Cadiz Bay Port Authority, Mrs. María Teófila Martínez and the Director of the School of Marine Engineering, Nautical and Radio Electronics, Mrs. Vanesa Duran.

They were very productive days, which could be followed by streaming from anywhere in the world, and which had a high participation both on-place and on-line.

The high level of the speakers and the subjects of interest treated made the attendees to value very positively the contents of the conference, the first to be held in person since the beginning of the pandemic, so they were carried out following strict protocols of health protection of the attendees.

Listed below are the topics covered and their speakers, as well as a brief overview of each of the presentations.

‘PRELIMINARY DRAFT LAW AMENDING THE CONSOLIDATED TEXT OF THE SPANISH STATE PORTS & MERCHANT NAVY ACT, AND MARITIME NAVIGATION’S LAW’

Lecturer:

Mr. Benito Núñez Quintanilla, Director General of the Merchant Marine

The presentation was clear and extensive about the new items included in the draft of the law, as the principles of the Autonomous ships’ regulation. In special, it was very helpful the point about concise clarification that the limitation of liability for the management of the pilotage service applies regardless of whether liability is required in a judicial procedure of a civil, social or criminal nature, or in administrative proceedings.

‘THE SPECIFICATION OF PARTICULAR REQUIREMENTS (LICENSE) FOR THE PILOTAGE PORT SERVICE’

Lecturer:

Mrs. Mar Chao López, Spanish State Ports Operations Director

As the licenses in some pilotage areas around Spain are being dealt at this time, the presentation of Mrs. Mar Chao was followed with especial attention, focused in the regulation of the Pilotage Port Service by means of the 'Specification of Particular Prescriptions' of that service. Mrs. Chao informed about the last changes that are going to introduce in the new forms of the Prescriptions, including a new “light” version of tariffs calculation.

‘THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PILOTS IN THE EXERCISE OF HIS FUNCTIONS AND THAT OF THE CORPORATIONS OF PROFESSIONAL PILOTS OR LIMITED COMPANIES’

Lecturer:

Mr. Juan Luis Pulido Begines, Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Cádiz

One of the big concerns related to our activity is the responsibility of the pilot and/or Pilot companies. Prof. Pulido spoke about the different terms of the actual law, that, in his opinion, should be clarified according to the different court rulings in last times.

There on, Prof. Pulido explained that the lack of clarity as to the liability of the pilot and the master often leads to very costly claims that could be avoided with a simple legal solution: a regime of liability, limited with compulsory insurance and direct action of the injured party.

‘THE PILOTAGE SERVICE IN THE PORT OF THE BAY OF CADIZ, ITS RISKS AND PECULIARITIES’

Lecturers:

Capt. Antonio A. Sánchez Romero and Capt. Carlos de Bricio Muñoz, Pilots of the Port of the Bay of Cádiz

Our colleagues Capt. Antonio Sánchez and Capt. Carlos de Bricio exposed the risks of the Cadiz Port and approaches, and the measures used by the Corporación de Prácticos de Cádiz to develop their activity with different kind of vessels and maneuvers, including the support of new technologies.

After this presentation, there was a Round Table about "THE PILOTAGE SERVICE AND MARITIME-PORT SAFETY” with all the previous lecturers, answering the questions of the attendees.

The first journey finished with a Gala Dinner with Authorities and Pilots.
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‘NEW TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED TO THE PILOTAGE SERVICE’

Lecturers:

Mr. Andy Nattras, Navigation & Piloting Sales Manager Trelleborg; D. Airam Rodríguez Rodríguez, Founder and CEO of AMURA; D. Pedro Estruga, TMS Solutions

These three presentations informed about the state-of-art in the PPU systems, technological solutions for Pilotage companies and connectivity solutions through multiple sensors from Pilot boats and clutters.

‘REGULATORY PERSPECTIVES IN THE FIELD OF AUTONOMOUS VESSELS’

Lecturer:

Mr. Hernán J. del Frade de Blas, Technical Advisor for Safety and Environment of the DGMM.

The fast introduction of the development of autonomous vessels in last times required the correct knowledge of the real situations about them and the future regulatory frame in the Spanish law. Mr. del Frade introduced the situation and explained the position of Spain inside the European legal environment of autonomous vessels.

‘VTS NEW REGULATION, IALA, AUTONOMOUS VESSELS’

Lecturer:

Mr. Juan Carlos Fernández Salinas, Head of Area of VTS - IALA Expert, Jovellanos Integral Maritime Safety Center 

As Spanish IALA representative, Mr. Fernández introduced the new changes to the new IALA regulation about VTS and open to the autonomous vessels. Also, he inserted some new concepts to be aware about MASS inside the COLREG.

‘THE PILOTAGE SERVICE AND AUTONOMOUS VESSELS’

Lecturers:

Capt. Raúl Saiz Nicolás and Capt. José L. Saura López, Pilots of the port of Bilbao and Santander, and Mrs. Ana Pulido, from Navantia shipyards.

Both pilots introduced the actual reality of Autonomous Vessels around the world, together with Mrs. Pulido, that informed about the new constructions in the segment of MASS in Spain.

It is important to mention the creation a work group of pilots, inside the Spanish Pilot Association, involved in the study of pilotage activity new technologies around the world, reinforcing the participation in different statements of the maritime community, with the finality of being updated about new developments in our activity.

‘THE PROTECTION OF THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT FROM SHIPS’

Lecturer:

Mr. Julio Berzosa Navazo, Maritime Captain of the port of the Bay of Algeciras/Tarifa

It was very important for the event to have the inputs about marine environment in this era. Mr. Berzosa was speaking about the new environmental regulations and future ones to be introduced in the complexity area of Algeciras Bay.

‘THE SAFETY OF SHIPS DOCKED IN PORT IN THE FACE OF THE RISK OF CAPSIZED’

Lecturer:

Dr. D. Amable V. Esparza Lorente, Merchant Marine Captain & Naval Engineer

The last presentation of this event was introduced by Dr. Amable Esparza. In an activity as pilotage, our participation in emergencies is often required. Dr. Esparza, using different examples occurred during last year in Spain, focused in the importance of the port administration to introduce a rapid response system for maritime emergencies, with special interest in the important role of pilots in them.

After this presentation there was a Round Table with the speakers about "THE FUTURE OF THE PILOTAGE SERVICE AND MARITIME-PORT SAFETY".

We’d like to thank the important attendance of the EMPA representatives, Vice-president Capt. Miguel Vieira and Secretary General Ms. Aileen Van Raemdonck.

For those interested in the event and presentations, it was recorded and it is at your disposal to be reproduced in the following link:

https://www.practicosdepuerto.es/es/jornadas-tecnicas-cadiz-16-17.09.2021