Florida Harbor Pilots Association Founded in 1868, the Florida Harbor Pilots Association is a voluntary organization comprised of 11 member associations that serve each of Florida's 14 deepwater ports. The Florida Harbor Pilots Association is designed to promote goodwill, provide leadership and coordinate all efforts and represent our member associations at the state level. Currently, our association has 97 state-regulated and licensed harbor pilots that have been taking navigational control of foreign flagged cargo and cruise ships and directing their movement into and out of Florida's ports for decades. As a harbor pilot within our association, it is our duty to act in the public interest and maintain independent judgment from any outside influences that may jeopardize maritime safety. All of our harbor pilots are independent contractors, belonging to a member association within our state's pilotage region, and are responsible for maintaining and operating one or more offices and pilots stations, pilot boats, dispatch system, electronic equipment and administrative services. The risks our harbor pilots face are unlike those faced by any other mariner. Our harbor pilots are transferred from pilot boats out at sea onto and off of extremely large moving vessels, often during poor weather conditions and rough seas. Once the pilot boat maneuvers alongside the ship, our harbor pilot boards the ship by stepping or leaping onto a rope ladder hanging from the ship's side. The harbor pilot climbs the ladder, up to 30 feet high, to the top of the main deck and proceeds to the bridge. It is important to note our harbor pilots are frequently injured and sometimes killed in the course of this dangerous transfer. Once onboard, it is the harbor pilot's job to familiarize him or herself with the ship's navigational equipment, performance characteristics and mechanical conditions and then direct the movement of the ship, while often dealing with a foreign crew that speaks limited to no English. In the course of piloting the vessels, it is important that our harbor pilots remain constantly vigilant, as the slightest misjudgment or lapse of concentration can lead to disaster. The magnitude of the risks involved are very high ' loss of life and massive environmental and property damage. In the event of such an accident, we not only face the loss of our license, but the end of our career, personal financial ruin with massive uninsurable liabilities and possible imprisonment.
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