THE European parliament will oppose plans to extend the role of maritime pilots in the detection of on-board deficiencies, according to the rapporteur for the port state control directive.  

Pilots’ knowledge of ships is partial and the profession should not be used to do the work of surveyors, says Dominique Vlasto, the Euro MP charged with leading the parliament’s reaction to the draft law.  

The Strasbourg assembly is in favour of the directive as a whole but will push for amendments, including the deletion of the article widening deficiency reporting requirements to deepsea pilots, Ms Vlasto said. While the rapporteur’s views do not bind the parliament as a whole, they are a good indication of the assembly’s future views.  

“Pilots do not know the whole vessel,” Ms Vlasto said. “They only have a partial impression. The industry did not want pilots acting as surveyors, she said.  

The port state control directive, part of a seven-strong ‘Erika 3’ package of legislation, underlines that port pilots are already obliged to report defects they come across in their line of work. The proposal now before the EU institutions would extend this provision to deepsea pilots. The commission thought this necessary in the wake of the Prestige oil spill disaster, when defects spotted by a pilot were not acted upon.