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World Environment Day: The Essential Role of Maritime Pilots

World Environment Day: The Essential Role of Maritime Pilots

Today is World Environmental Day, to help us celebrate, our member, the Canadian Marine Pilots’ Association, has shared with us their...

Today is World Environmental Day, to help us celebrate, our member, the Canadian Marine Pilots’ Association, has shared with us their insight on the important role maritime pilots play in ensuring our environment is protected.

“20% of Canadian exports and imports are moved by water, which results over $210 billion of cargo being transported by pilots to their destinations yearly. Through their work, pilots play an important role in bringing our natural resources to market in an environmentally responsible manner and in supporting the country’s international trade.

With approximately 50,000 pilotage assignments taking place every year in Canada with a success rate consistently above 99.9%, marine pilots have one of the most demanding professions in the world and stand at the confluence of environmentalism and economics. By contributing to safe navigation, pilots play a key role in protecting the environment against the consequences of shipping accidents, including spills of pollutants, while also supporting economic development.

High-performance pilotage not only contributes to prevent accidents and avoid clean-up costs, it provides a near-certainty that access to critical marine infrastructure, such as ports, will not be compromised, thereby avoiding costly disruptions to supply chain operations. By contributing to Canada’s competitiveness while protecting the environment, pilots truly deliver on the essential objective of marine pilotage – protecting the public interest.”

Click here to learn more about our advocacy efforts to address environmental issues. 

Photo captured by Capt. Louis Rhéaume during a tanker assignment on the Saguenay River.

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