SMOOTH OPERATORSRoss Nicholls, Director of Brisbane Marine Pilots

摘要

For Ross Nicholls, director of Queensland pilotage firm Brisbane Marine Pilots, the outlook for the East Coast pilotage industry is a positive one."There is clear recognition by key port stakeholders and regulators that pilots provide a very important function in the risk management of trade flows," he told Ausmarine.This outlook is an assuredly confident stance within a shipping industry that, at a global level^s seeking to reduce costs by way of decreased manpower and increased automation. Recent improvements in navigational devices have reduced reliance on paper charts and maps - and by extension human navigators and watchkeepers - whilst future pipedreams involve the concept of remote-controlled ships and thus the elimination of any human presence on ships altogether.