On June 28th, the Zhejiang Maritime Bureau awarded the first batch of national full-port pilot competency certificates to 7 pilots of the Ningbo Zhoushan Port, marking the end of the 18-year-long "one vessel, two pilots" practice and the realization of "one port, one pilot" across the entire port area. This achievement signifies a crucial breakthrough in the reform and development of Ningbo Zhoushan Port towards becoming a world-class strong port.
Due to administrative divisions, institutional setups, and other factors, Ningbo Zhoushan Port has long been plagued by the issue of "one vessel, two pilots," where different pilots were responsible for guiding vessels in separate segments. This not only impacted the safety of navigation, constrained the operational efficiency of shipping companies and the port as a whole, but also hindered the demonstration of the port's international image as a unified operation and service provider. To fundamentally address this challenge, the Zhejiang Maritime Bureau, based on thorough research into the overall planning of Ningbo Zhoushan Port and comprehensive consideration of the development and safety needs of the port, shipping companies, and pilot stations, applied to and received approval from the Maritime Safety Administration of the People’s Republic of China to pilot the training, examination, and certification program for full-port pilots in Ningbo Zhoushan Port.
Within the framework of laws and regulations, the Zhejiang Maritime Bureau innovatively broke down qualification barriers and certificate restrictions, clarifying the workflows and a series of normative standards for the training, internship, examination, and certification of full-port pilots. Simultaneously, the practical training facilities and examination venues were equipped and certified efficiently. After rigorous theoretical training assessments and a 3-month internship, the first batch of full-port pilots, holding brand-new competency certificates with the scope of "Ningbo Zhoushan Port Area," officially took up their posts.
Source from: China Transport News