Pilots' launch in troubled waters

Maintenance on pilot launches should be carried out by mooring men, who were also bound to replace, at their own expense, any launch that needed to be pulled out of service, Malta Maritime Authority chairman Marc Bonello said yesterday.

He was reacting to the ongoing controversy about the damage sustained by the pilot launch Merhba.

The job that mooring men carry out is part of the reform at the ports.

On Monday the MMA said the pilot launch, which is the only one serving Grand Harbour, suffered another engine breakdown and had to be withdrawn from service for repairs.

The MMA has asked the Police Commissioner to investigate the causes of the breakdown.

On Wednesday, the General Workers Union, which represents over 50 per cent of the mooring men, complained that the launch had not serviced since December 2005.

The union claimed that despite being the MMA being repeatedly informed of the launch's condition, the necessary maintenance was not carried out.

Dr Bonello told The Sunday Times yesterday that while the service at the Freeport was provided by a private operator, who, because of the breakdown, was currently also servicing the Grand Harbour, the service at Grand Harbour was provided by mooring men, who are licensed by the MMA.

While traditionally mooring men moored boats, for the past 30 years or so, they have also been steering pilot launches.

Their pay, which amounted to around Lm19,000 annually, came from a tariff MMA charged ship agents.

Dr Bonello said that although it was true that the job of mooring men carried an element of danger, there were other people who did dangerous jobs and did not earn as much.

The MMA needed to ensure that the service by the ports' pilots remained operational round the clock.

The government believed that following the port reform, the job of mooring men should be just to moor.

The steering of pilot launches should be carried out by an operator, as was done successfully at the Freeport.

The port reform, Dr Bonello said, should ensure that everyone was accountable for his job and service contracts would be drawn up, as had been done with port workers, listing the obligations and duties of the mooring men against the payment they should received and the fines they would be charged should they fail to do their duties.

He said that just 18 months ago, the MMA had given Merhba a total upgrade, which included the fitting of two new engines and gearboxes, and a complete refurbishment.

It then again commissioned the launch from the mooring men.

Thanks to the upgrade, the launch was now capable of reaching a top speed of 22 knots instead of the previous nine, Dr Bonello said.

This upgrade, which cost Lm85,500, was carried out to enhance the level of service by pilots especially in view of the increase in the number of cruise liners whose time at port was very limited.

Instead of doing their duty and seeing that the launch was well maintained, mooring men had allowed it to fall into disrepair, he said.

The surveyor who gauged the damage could not understand how a launch that was in shipshape condition in December 2005 could get to such a state.

For the MMA this was clear proof that some mooring men were not doing their duty. Whether or not there was foul play is up to the police to say, Dr Bonello said.

If something had failed, he said, in spite of regular maintenance, the MMA would not have objected to see to the necessary repairs but the mooring men were not doing regular maintenance.

Referring to the GWU's statement that the MMA had been repeatedly informed of Merhba's condition and that this was documented, Dr Bonello said that he had not seen such documents and would be grateful to the union if it passed on a copy of these documents to him.

When contacted, Communications Minister Censu Galea said that at face value it seemed the damages sustained by Merhba were due to carelessness.

The government would be taking all the necessary action according to what results from the police investigations.