Victoria’s transport safety regulator is not properly equipped to manage the licensing of pilots who oversee Melbourne’s biggest cargo ships, according to a leaked report that never saw the light of day and warned of poor resourcing and lack of experience., also said the agency should consider giving its responsibilities to Ports Victoria to address the safety issues it identified.
“The majority of these issues relate to lack of resources, internal expertise, and business continuity planning,” the report found. “However, concerns have been raised about the potential risk of overlooking important safety issues due to the overwhelming workload faced by the team.”The report also noted that at the time of writing, Safe Transport Victoria employed a single pilotage expert who had previously worked as a marine pilot in London but had never worked in this capacity in Victoria.“Relying on a single expert when regulating an entire, albeit small, industry is fraught with risks,” they wrote.
Under law, every vessel over 35 metres must have a licensed marine pilot on board when visiting the Port of Melbourne or Geelong, functioning as a temporary captain with local knowledge, responsible for safety and navigation until the ship is berthed or back at sea.The report’s authors said options to improve the situation included maintaining business as normal, transferring pilotage permissions to Ports Victoria or implementing a range of operational improvements including hiring more experts.