Harbour pilot not on boats – boss

A harbour pilot in Gisborne was sacked after his boss discovered he was not on board the large ships he was supposed to be assisting.

One was the cruise liner Emerald Princess carrying some 3000 passengers and 1200 crew, which anchored in Poverty Bay on February last year.

Things came to a head when a large fishing boat he was supposed to be on but wasn’t, smashed into a building at the port and sent people running for their lives.

The pilot, Captain Paul Hines, claimed he could adequately provide ‘‘remote pilotage’’ of the fishing boat from land. Not only is this contrary to regulations, but CCTV footage revealed he was not at the vantage point he claimed to have been at when the boat came in.

Hines was employed as a marine manager/pilot by Eastland Port in May 2015. Part of his job was to provide pilotage for large ships.

On March 30 last year, the fishing vessel Seamount Explorer entered the port and smashed into the Moana Pacific ice tower building, causing workers to run and jump fences to avoid falling debris.

The following day, the port’s general manager, Andrew Gaddum, discovered that Hines had not been on board the boat. Hines told him he had provided ‘‘remote pilotage’’ by monitoring the boat’s entrance into the port while standing on Kaiti Beach Rd. CCTV footage showed he was not at the site at the time he alleged.

While investigating the Seamount Explorer incident, Gaddum discovered that Hines had also not been on board the Emerald Princess when it departed anchorage on February 26.

Hines was sacked last May. But he claimed he was unjustifiably dismissed and sought reinstatement.

‘‘It’s done all over the world without a captain on a daily basis.’’

Captain Paul Hines on offering remote assistance to boats such as the Seamount Explorer, above.

He took the case to the Employment Relations Authority.

Authority member Tania Tetitaha found that the port had been justified in dismissing Hines.

Tetitaha said Maritime Rules required the presence of a pilot on board large vessels ‘‘to maintain the contribution of pilotage to the safety of navigation, the protection of the marine environment and the efficiency of seaborne commerce’’.

There were a few exceptions to this rule, but Tetitaha said none of these applied in either of the situations involving Hines.

Yesterday, Hines said that he had appealed the ‘‘woeful’’ decision to the Employment Court.

Hines, who has worked as a pilot in various parts of the world since 1993, said the Emerald Princess situation was ‘‘totally within maritime rules’’ as he had given the cruise liner’s captain approval to depart the bay without a pilot.

‘‘It’s done all over the world without a captain on a daily basis,’’ he said.

But Hines acknowledged making a mistake with regards to the Seamount Explorer due to him misreading an ‘‘and’’ as ‘‘or’’ in the Maritime Rules.