Marine Pilots Research Articles

Assessing the Safety Factors of Ship Berthing Operations

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the safety of ship berthing operations in port. Based on the features of ship's berthing operations and relevant literature, the Safety Factors (SFs) of ship berthing at docks are first investigated. A Safety Index (SI) with a Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model is then proposed to assess those SFs from port marine pilots, by which port managers and ship carriers may make policies to improve ship berthing safety. To validate the model, berthing operations at Kaohsiung Port in Taiwan were empirically investigated. The results indicate the main safety factors affecting ship berthing at port docks are: working concentration, the condition of mooring lines, emergency response, port policy of improving business and berth length. Based on those results, the theoretical and managerial implications for ship berthing safety at dock are finally discussed.

Does Job Satisfaction Mediate the Relationship between Work-family Conflict and Turnover? A Study of Turkish Marine Pilots

The present study investigated the mediating effects of job satisfaction on the relationship between work-family conflict and turnover intentions in a sample of 100 Turkish Marine Pilots. Data obtained from questionnaires will be analyzed through the SPSS statistical packet program. The Sobel test is used to measure the significance of mediation effect of job satisfaction. The findings revealed that shifting system and WFC have a positive effect on turnover intentions whereas numbers of manoeuvre and job satisfaction have a negative effect on turnover intentions. Unlike previous studies, the finding also indicates that there is no significant mediation effect relationship between the respondents’ WFC and turnover.

The Impact of Safety Climate and Work-Family Conflict on Fatigue: A Survey on Turkish Marine Pilots

The Impact of Safety Climate and Work-Family Conflict on Fatigue: A Survey on Turkish Marine Pilots

Does Burnout Working Conditions Affect Marine Pilots’ Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions? A Study of Turkish Marine Pilots

The occupation of marine pilotage is one of the rarely studied subjects of maritime sector. Based on the very scarce literature, the number of studies related with working conditions of marine pilots is very limited. Hence, the main significance of this research is being the first study that reveals the relationship between marine pilots’ working conditions and burnout and its impact on job satisfaction and turnover in Turkey. At start of this study it was predicted that working conditions such as; number of maneuver, time of arrival/departure from ship for maneuvering, lack of sleep, weather conditions, equipment conditions, sea conditions, period of maneuver time (day-night), competency of crew, communication skills of crew, irregular working hours, lighting of bridge, ventilation of bridge, temperature of bridge and noise would be significantly related to burnout of marine pilots which in turn effect their job satisfaction and turnover intentions. The study is empirically based on the primary data collected from 100 marine pilots’ in Turkey. Data obtained from questionnaires have been analyzed through the SPSS statistical packet program and PLS-Graph. The results suggest that marine pilots’ lack of job satisfaction and increasing turnover intentions are outcome of their stressful working conditions.

離着岸操船におけるタグボート運用要素の評価

The most important task of harbor tug boats are to support berthing /unberthing of vessels, because marine pilots use those tug boats for safe and efficient ship operation when assisting vessels’ berthing or unberthing. In Japan, the new pilotage low has been active since 2007 and included the third grade pilots which newly established. Unfortunately, they do not have enough experience of tug boat management. They are trying to study about tug boats handling in the harbor for large vessels using ship handling by navigation simulation systems. The senior pilots teach them how to use the tug boats in the ship handling simulator, too. However, the senior pilots have only the experience but do not have standard of the evaluation for management of tug boats handling. In this paper, the authors propose how to evaluate the tug boat handling for ship berthing using the new standard, which is named “Evaluation on elements for tug boat handling.” It is extracted from natural images of ship berthing at actual port named Yokohama. The new standards are consisted of three elements which are propelling power of tug boats, its direction and duration of power. The authors tried to compare the values of the three elements between actual ship handlings and ship handlings by the simulation, then confirmed their effects.

A Study on Development of Laptop-Based Pilots' Ship-Handling Simulation Software

Berthing and unberthing maneuver is essential work for marine pilots and securing the safety against risks during the maneuver is more important than anything else. Moreover, the maneuvering environment in ports and harbors has changed rapidly and got worse due to development of a new port, the advent of a new type or large-sized ship, and the rapid increase in harbor traffic. As one of measures taken to cope with such changes in the maneuvering environment and for each pilot to improve his own maneuvering ability, this paper developed laptop-based ship-handling simulator which is readily available anytime and anywhere. This paper is to develop a conning display for ship's maneuvering and electronic chart based display widely used nowadays to represent a model ship's movement. The displays were arranged appropriately considering pilot age, easy handling by mouse, using a maximum screen, proper arrangement of rudder, engine, thruster, tug etc and representation of information. Up to now thirteen (13) model ships were developed based on real-ship, whose mathematical model is Japanese MMG & pilots' low speed maneuver.

水先人の乗下船および乗船時の人身事故発生傾向

水先人の乗下船および乗船時の人身事故発生傾向

3級水先人の教育・訓練プログラムについて( 水先人養成教育)

3級水先人の教育・訓練プログラムについて( 水先人養成教育)

The Impact of Short, Irregular Sleep Opportunities at Sea on the Alertness of Marine Pilots Working Extended Hours

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of brief, unscheduled naps during work periods on alertness and vigilance in coastal pilots along the Great Barrier Reef. On certain routes, the duration of the work period can extend well beyond 24 h. Seventeen coastal pilots volunteered for the study, representing almost one‐third of the population. Participants collected sleep/wake and performance data for 28 days using a sleep and work diary and the palm PVT task. The average length of sleep on board was 1.4±1.0 h. Naps were taken regularly such that the average length of time awake between sleep periods on board a ship was 5.3±4.3 h. There was no change in mean reaction time across either the length of a pilotage or across the 24 h day. The results indicate that even though the naps were taken opportunistically, they tended to cluster at the high sleep propensity times. Further, frequent, opportunistic naps appeared to provide adequate recovery such that PVT performance remained stable. Pilots did report increases in subjective fatigue ratings at certain times of the 24 h day and at the end of a work period; however, these did not reach the high range. The fatigue‐risk minimization strategies employed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the coastal pilots appear to be effective in maintaining alertness and vigilance while at work aboard ships.

충돌시나리오 기반의 항해사 인지능력 평가시스템 개발

Reduced crew performance is frequently cited as a major causal factor in maritime accident causation. Although considerable research has been conducted on the hours of work undertaken by seafarers through interviews and the analysis of records, experimental studies to observe the effects of factors such as high workload, shift patterns, stress, sleep deprivation and disturbance on the cognitive performance of mariners have been limited. Other safety-critical transport industries, such as aviation and rail, have developed fatigue management tools to help manage the work patterns of their operators. Such a tool for mariners would assist shipboard crew, marine pilots and shore management in planning and improving work schedules. The overall aim of this paper is to determine a fatigue factor, which can be applied to human performance data, as part of a software program that calculates total cognitive performance. This program enables us to establish the levels of cognitive performance of a group of marine pilots to test a decision-making task based on radar information. This paper addresses one of the factors that may contribute to the determination of various fatigue factors: the effect of different work patterns on the cognitive performance of a marine pilot.

The Future Supply of Marine Pilots for Australia

(2003). The Future Supply of Marine Pilots for Australia. Maritime Studies: Vol. 2003, No. 131, pp. 1-9.

The impact of the new onboard technologies on maritime education and training schemes in Europe: some findings from the 'METHAR' project

The paper reports some analyses put forward in the context of the METHAR Project. The purpose is the evaluation of the impact of the new technologies used onboard ships on the Maritime Education and Training systems in Europe and the identification of the future training needs. This issue is tackled by developing an ad-hoc methodology based upon the analysis of the responses to questionnaires sent to a number of operators involved in the maritime sector all over Europe, specifically ship owners, marine equipment manufacturers, pilots and port managers. Results enable the identification of some types of impacts that are named ‘organizational’ and ‘operational’. Moreover, a general evaluation scheme was developed as a tool for highlighting the structure and the characteristics of the impacts considered.

The Pilots' Compensation Scheme: A Study in Arbitration, Interpretation and Causation

ABSTRACTThis article considers nine cases dealt with by ACAS arbitration in the period from September1991 to July 1993 under the statutory compensation scheme for marine pilots whose engagements were terminated in consequence of the major changes made to the provision of pilotage services by the Pilotage Act 1987. It explains the background to those changes and the problems that arose in the nine cases (problems of interpretation of the scheme, particularly in sickness cases, and then of proving causation in individual cases), and comments on the use of the arbitration procedures in circumstances such as these.

パイロット操船からみた針路不安定の許容限界に関するシミュレータスタディ

The Japanese Pilots' Association has listed out a significant number of ships with extremely poor maneuverability. The ships are under operation in ports and waterways near Japan and dangerous experiences happened on such ships have been pointed out by the association. These show us an urgent necessity of the maneuverability standards which are the minimum requirements in maneuverability of ships. To evaluate relations between the maneuverability and the operational safety from the viewpoints of marine pilots, simulation studies were carried out as a cooperated program between the Japanese Pilots' Association and Hiroshima university. Maneuvering simulations of berthing in some port and passing though a curved narrow channel were conducted by pilots on the Harbor Maneuvering Simulator of Hiroshima University. The difficulty was assessed by the pilots. The results of performed maneuvers were carefully examined and the relation between both results was also confirmed. The allowable instability limit estimated from the present simulator studies is finally reported.

Follow-up: 15 Years After Captivity in SE Asia; 50 Years After World War II Flight Training

ON FEBRUARY 14, 1973, the first 20 American prisoners of war (POWs) arrived from Vietnam at Clark Air Base in the Philippines ( JAMA . 1973;224:972-974). Since then, those men and their almost 650 fellow prisoners have afforded the Navy a unique opportunity to study the long-term effects of extended captivity. More than 15 years later, their bodies still bear scars from combat injuries and, in some cases, from being tortured by their captors. But, the study suggests, the POWs have readjusted to American life, even prospered, and their overall health is good. Theirs had been one of the more grueling experiences of the conflict in Southeast Asia. Most were Air Force, Navy, or Marine pilots who managed to eject themselves from crippled jet aircraft, although some were Army helicopter crew members or ground troops and one was a seaman who fell overboard. Some had spent as long as 7 wretched years