Status of Pilots: Denmark 2003

The Danish Pilotage service is provided by 111 pilots, divided into two types of pilots: about 2/3 are harbour-transit-traffic-pilots and about 1/3 are working only as district/harbour-pilots. Transit-traffic pilots below 60 years are licensed to carry out deep-sea pilotage in the Baltic Sea. Danish pilots are not licensed for deep-sea pilotage in the North Sea. Danish pilots are supervised by the Ministry of Defense under which a department appointed by the minister is supervising the pilots. This department is also responsible for the supervising and administration of the buoyage in Danish waters and the civil rescue service at sea in Denmark. The name of this department is "Farvandsvaesenet" / Royal Danish Administration of Navigation and Hydrographic.

The pilots work under the regulations of the Danish Pilot Act, which has latest been changed in 1989.

Regarding our status we must realize that Danish pilots are governmental employed, - but without any collective bargaining. The situation is covered by the Pilot Act, which should give us possibilities to make agreements with  the Ministry of Defense through our administrators. The Pilot Act and the connected rules says that we can make agreements, but the time gone has showed, that it’s a very hard work to make these agreements. We feel that it is very difficult to negotiate and end up with a result which is satisfied and logic for all parts. Still we must say about our status that we are placed in a "gray zone", but the near future could show, that collective bargaining is the way out of an unsatisfied situation.

The past year we have been under pressure from the Danish Competition Authority, who has the impression that the Danish Pilots should be subject to competition. A response from the Defence Ministry is expected on the 26th of march.

We have tried to make an agreement about our salary, working hours, rest hours etc. but the Defence Ministry is delaying this with respect to the answer that is expected the 26th of march.

EMPA Membership:
Danish pilots are members of EMPA through the Danish pilots Organization Danske Lodser and DANA.

Minimum Qualifications
Masters degree l. class (master certificate 2. class + high sea experience as chief officer) and 3 month training in the district, harbour or transit waters. Before having license as a pilot, the pilot shall pass an examination controlled by the Ministry of Defense and the Chief pilot running the pilot business at the local pilot station.

All pilots must pass a health check every 2.nd. year and carry a ROC certificate together with a valid ARPA certificate. The named certificates gives us the right to have a valid master - certificate 1. grade as pilots.

We are working to find a way to be quality certified related to international and national requirements, so a new Danish pilot will always be a modern pilot fully updated in all respects, and we are looking forward to EMPA’s dealing with this matter.

During the past few years the Danish pilots have attended more and more work-related courses in order to keep up and lift qualifications and standards, and to comply with recommendations on training and education of pilots as defined by ETCS.

Retirement
Earliest age to retire for a healthy pilot is 60 years. Maximum age to retire is 65 years. The time when a pilot is retiring will normally depend on, what time the pilot has obtained his maximum ,,pension age", and reached the time where he can receive maximum pension payment.

We are aiming at a half-pension agreement where a pilot between 60 and 65 could work ½-time as a pilot and get ½ pension and ½ pilot salary, as a kind of  voluntary workload reduction.

Tariffs/Income
Tariffs are given by the Ministry of Defense, but the tariffs are connected to the cost benefit situation and are agreed in the pilot council where the owners, pilots and representatives from the Ministry of Defense are represented.

Danish pilots receives DKr. 295.000 – 330.000  p.a. as a guaranteed salary (depending on the years of employment)  plus a provision salary (19,36 % of paid pilot fees). The provision salary is approximately the same as the guaranteed salary.

Working Hours
The duty period and periods on leave and vacation differs from pilotage to pilotage (all told 3) as each pilotage has its own rules which are specially designed for that pilotage. These rules must not interfere with the duty of the master pilot which says, that he is responsible for giving pilotage service on request to all shipping in the district without any delay.

Guaranteed ,,rest time" will on the average be 180 days per year all included. A new regulation on rest hours means that pilots should have not less than 11 hours rest pr. 24 hours of duty.  The total working hours are about 2600 hours p.a. These hours are calculated out from rules, which should comply to rules for a governmental employed salary receiver.

Pilot Stations
All pilot stations and -vessels are owned by the Danish Pilot Department except those owned by a foundation connected to the pilot station (2 stations still have these foundations). The management and maintenance is in the master pilots hands. The expenses are calculated in the
budget and tariff examination carried out by the Council of Pilots.

Compulsory Pilotage
Outer and inner territorial waters are covered by the Pilot Act from 1989 -  inner territorial water zone has just been expanded to 12 miles from 3 - which says that compulsory pilotage shall take place when ships are navigating in these waters carrying oil, chemicals ( listed in the IMO's chemical code), gas tankers, and ships carrying radioactive cargo.

To the Pilot Act is added a departmental order which says that the compulsory pilotage does not apply to:
1  Oil tankers under 1500 tdw.
2. Ships, where the master has been navigating in the same area 5 times within the last 6
    month with the same ship.
3. Danish ships under foreign flag, when they were allowed to navigate without a pilot when
    they were still running the Danish flag.
Furthermore IMO regulations MSC 138(76) says, that vessels with a draught of more than 11 m. should take pilot from Skaw to Gedser as a minimum. The different Danish Authorities considers this to be compulsory pilotage and will report masters that do not comply to the respective flag state.

PEC´s
As compulsory pilotage take place in accordance to the above named and a few other cases where one cannot obtain PEC´s. A PEC can only be obtain under the " 5 times within 6 month" rule.