Tees Pilots celebrate 125 years

Oct 30 2007 by Evening Gazette

WITH a history stretching back 260 years, Tees Bay Pilots are the skilled individuals who play a crucial role in the region’s marine operations.

The independent co-operative of Class 1 master mariners provides professional pilotage and consultation on ship operations for the ports of Tees and Hartlepool and the first written record of the pilots dates back to 1746.

The pilots have a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from an intensive six year training programme coupled with many years serving at sea.

Among the milestones being celebrated by Tees Bay Pilots this year is the marking of the 125th year serving the port of Teesside. A celebratory event held at Judges in Kirklevington was well attended and thanks goes out to all those who supported this and the raffle which raised £765 to go to Redcar sea cadets.

The next milestone was the 1,000th cargo trip of the Gaschem Isar to Teesport, am LPG tanker which has been in serving our area since 1991.

And the third milestone was the largest barge ever to be brought in as far as the Transporter Bridge by Tees Bay Pilots. It measured 190m by 50m and was carrying equipment for a North Sea pipeline project and required four tugs and two pilots to navigate it past the Transporter to the Wilton Engineering site.

Teesport, already the second largest port in the UK, is seeing a consistent increase in containership traffic and with plans for the Northern Gateway moving ever closer and bringing hundreds more shipping movements the importance of the pilots and the tasks they face cannot be over-emphasised.

Tees Bay Pilots have also taken on two new recruits this year - Jon Parnaby and Jonathon Davison. This will provide continuity of service to the port and ship owners and, by the end of the year Tees Pilots will be saying farewell to three of its senior pilots who, after long and distinguished careers and with a combined experience of nearly 100 years, will be retiring.