Connecticut’s maritime pilots say they need funding

Group is lobbying port authority to use required fees for safety equipment, more robust training

Marine pilots, who guide vessels in and out of Connecticut’s harbors, finessing cargo ships into berths at the state’s ports, largely pay out of their own pockets for training and safety equipment.

By law, they are required to pay 6 percent of their annual earnings to the Connecticut Port Authority. Connecticut has eight state-licensed marine pilots, who say members of no other professional organization in the state have to pay such a fee.

The Connecticut Pilot Commission, which represents a broad spectrum of business, maritime and environmental interests, is lobbying the port authority to establish a fund, using the fees collected from the pilots, to offset the cost of training and equipping current and future pilots licensed in the state.

The fee has generated about $62,000 in revenue annually for the

port authority. Joe Salvatore, a port authority employee, said the agency is looking to establish a policy that would allow the pilots to submit reimbursement requests on a quarterly basis to the port authority for equipment and training.

Several years ago, the state started charging each vessel boarded by a pilot a $20 fee to establish such a fund. Last year, there were 160 vessel calls across Connecticut, amounting to $3,200 in revenue, which is “woefully adequate,” said Bill Gash, chairman of the pilot commission.

“The $20 fee charged to ships for each pilot boarding/ disembarking has never been adequate to provide training and safety equipment to the current licensed pilots,” Charlie Jonas, a longtime maritime pilot in Connecticut, said in a July 2019 letter to Gash. “Furthermore, the cost of pilot training, refresher courses and simulator training has doubled in recent years.”

In his letter, Jonas estimates the cost of an upcoming simulator training to be about $2,500 per day and the cost of safety and navigation equipment for pilots to be nearly $9,000.

Future ships coming into New London’s deepwater port, which is being envisioned as one of several hubs along the Northeast for the emerging offshore wind industry, likely will have different features and technologies than those docking there now.

“Considering the unique design and handling characteristics of ships which are expected to call at New London State Pier, it will be advantageous for the pilots to have simulator training which can incorporate the characteristics of different style vessels in their program before the ships begin to arrive,” Jonas said in his letter.

Previously the Connecticut Department of Transportation oversaw the licensing of maritime pilots in the state, and the revenue generated from the 6 percent fee went into the state’s general fund. When the port authority took over maritime functions of the state, the agency took over that responsibility.

The intention had always been to use the money for pilot training and safety equipment “but once it went to the general fund, it never actually made its way back to assist the pilots,” Gash said.