Harbours Act, 1996

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Pilotage agreement between company and licensed pilots.

59.—(1) If a company decides to organise and ensure the provision of pilotage services in its pilotage district by the means specified in paragraph (b) of section 56 (1) it shall enter into an agreement (in this Part referred to as a “pilotage agreement”) with one or more persons whom the persons proposing to act as licensed pilots in the company's pilotage district nominate for the purpose of concluding such an agreement.

(2) A pilotage agreement may be varied or replaced by another pilotage agreement by agreement between the company concerned and the person or persons nominated under subsection (1) or such other person or persons as the licensed pilots for the company's pilotage district nominate for that purpose and references hereafter in this Part to a pilotage agreement shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as including references to a pilotage agreement so varied and a pilotage agreement that so replaces a pilotage agreement (including a pilotage agreement that has itself so replaced such an agreement).

(3) (a) In this subsection “relevant representatives” means the person or persons nominated under subsection (1) or (2) to enter into—

(i) a pilotage agreement with the company referred to in this subsection, or

(ii) an agreement providing for the variation of a pilotage agreement to which the said company is a party, or

(iii) a pilotage agreement which will replace a pilotage agreement referred to in subparagraph (ii),

and references in this subsection to a pilotage agreement shall be construed as references to a pilotage agreement referred to in subparagraph (i), (ii) or (iii), as may be appropriate.

(b) If a company and the relevant representatives cannot agree as to whether a particular term or terms ought to be included in a pilotage agreement, they may refer the matter to a person who shall be nominated by them or, in the event of them being unable to agree as to the person to be nominated for that purpose, to a person who shall be nominated by the Minister.

(c) The person nominated under paragraph (b) shall, having considered the matter referred to him or her under that paragraph and any submissions which the company concerned and the relevant representatives have made to him or her in relation thereto (being submissions made to the person within such reasonable period of time as he or she shall specify for the purposes of the matter), decide whether the particular term or terms ought to be included in the pilotage agreement and his or her decision shall be binding on the company concerned and the relevant representatives.

(4) A pilotage agreement shall provide for—

(a) the number of licensed pilots who shall from time to time provide pilotage services in the pilotage district of the company concerned and an increase or reduction in, as the case may be, the number of such pilots in the event of an increase or reduction in traffic requiring pilotage in that pilotage district,

(b) the carrying out of the following duties by the company concerned or the licensed pilots for its pilotage district, namely—

(i) the collection and recovery of pilotage charges and the disbursement of those charges, after the making therefrom of all lawful deductions and disbursements on account of administrative expenses, to each of the licensed pilots,

(ii) the making, subject to the approval of the Minister given with the consent of the Minister for Finance, of a scheme for the grant of superannuation benefits to or in respect of the licensed pilots and the provision of such other benefits for those pilots as are considered desirable by the company concerned or those pilots, as the case may be,

(iii) such administrative duties the carrying out of which are necessary for or consequent upon the carrying out of a duty referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii),

(c) the payment to the company concerned out of pilotage charges collected or recovered in its pilotage district of the expenses incurred by it in carrying out a duty referred to in paragraph (b),

(d) the transfer of the contributions, if any, that have been made by a licensed pilot for the pilotage district of the company concerned to any superannuation scheme administered by the former pilotage authority for that pilotage district to a scheme referred to in paragraph (b) (ii),

(e) the transfer of any balance in a pilots' benefit fund established under section 17 (1) (j) of the Pilotage Act, 1913 , by the former pilotage authority for the pilotage district of the company concerned to a scheme referred to in paragraph (b) (ii) or to such other fund that the company concerned or the licensed pilots carrying out the duties referred to in paragraph (b) (ii) establish for the purpose of providing benefits for licensed pilots,

(f) such supplementary, incidental or consequential matters as respects the matters referred to in paragraphs (a) to (e),

(g) such other matters as may be required for the proper and efficient organisation and provision of pilotage services in the pilotage district of the company concerned,

(h) where it is thought desirable that effect should be given to a provision of the pilotage agreement by means of bye-laws made by the company concerned under section 71 , the giving of effect to the provision by such means.

(5) (a) Where a pilotage agreement is in force in respect of a company's pilotage district and the company proposes that the agreement should stand cancelled from a specified date and from that date that pilotage services in its pilotage district should be organised and their provision ensured by the means specified in paragraph (a) of section 56 (1) it shall conduct a secret ballot of the licensed pilots for its pilotage district with respect to that proposal.

(b) If a majority of the licensed pilots for the pilotage district concerned who have cast valid votes in a ballot conducted under paragraph (a) vote in favour of the proposal to which the ballot relates—

(i) the pilotage agreement concerned shall stand cancelled from the date specified in the said proposal, and

(ii) the company concerned may make all administrative arrangements and adjustments with respect to the organisation and provision of pilotage services in its pilotage district as are necessary to give effect to the said proposal and may provide for any thing consequential on the said proposal being carried into effect (including any financial loss that may be incurred by persons who were licensed pilots for its pilotage district).