The Danish Maritime Authority has sent an email to pilots – the specialized navigators who navigate large merchant ships safely through difficult waters – and tightened the reporting obligation.
The Authority confirms to Danwatch that this is due to increasing attention to problems with ships from Russia's shadow fleet. The Authority also states that responsibility for the pilotage area has been transferred to the Ministry of Civil Protection and Emergency Situations.
"On 1 October, the Danish Maritime Authority reached out to the pilotage companies and requested information about situations where, for example, map material is not updated, or where the equipment is too old and thus may have an impact on navigational safety, the environment or other societal considerations", the Authority writes.
The report comes on the heels of, among other things, Danwatch's coverage of the shadow fleet, where it has emerged that pilots are experiencing old and worn-out equipment, more difficult communication with crews and a number of other errors and deficiencies on the ships.
"The Danish Maritime Authority has done so based on articles from Danwatch and Bloomberg, which describe that pilots allegedly experience the aforementioned conditions on the ships", the Authority informs.
Pilot Association: Not the Pilot's Responsibility
This is met with harsh criticism from the chairman of Danish Pilot, Mikael Pedersen, who would like to see the task placed elsewhere.
- It should not be the pilots' responsibility to do monitoring work for the authorities. The board should go out and map the problems with the Russian shadow ships themselves instead of making the pilots do it, says Mikael Pedersen.
The chairman emphasizes that of course obvious errors and deficiencies are reported, but he fears that a sharper focus on the ships may scare the owners away from taking pilots on board from some pilotage companies, while they choose others. Because the pilotage market is free in Denmark, and all countries in the EU have the right to operate here.
- Since the pilotage companies in Denmark are in competition with each other, it may suddenly make sense for a pilotage company to speculate on not reporting these errors in order to get more customers. Pilotage can become like private security guards, says Mikael Pedersen.
It is reasonable that Denmark would like to gather knowledge about these ships through your eyes, if you see equipment that is worn out and dangerous?
- No, that is the easy solution. If it is rumored that we come on board and make reports, then it is not far to say that we should not have them on board.
He fears that it will destroy the cooperation with the crews on the ships if the pilots have to monitor them.
Expert: No way around it
It can be compared to Danish soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, who had to cooperate with local authorities who did not comply with the law, says Peter Viggo Jakobsen, associate professor at the Department of Strategy and War Studies at the Danish Defence Academy.
However, he sees no way around the fact that the pilots report, and therefore they must find a balance between supervising and making the cooperation work in the future. Peter Viggo Jakobsen believes that the increased reporting requirement is due to the state wanting to see if there is a legal basis for stopping some of the ships.
- The Danish state now wants to first determine whether there may be a legal basis for stopping ships. The question then is what the Danish authorities will choose to do if the pilot reports show that the situation is as bad as I have heard, he says.
Minister of Community Safety and Emergency Preparedness Torsten Shack Pedersen (V) has not wanted to comment on the criticism from Mikael Pedersen. Instead he writes:
- From the Danish side, we view the Russian shadow fleet very seriously, and I know that relevant authorities are in confidential dialogue with our partners about these challenges.
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