Marine Pilotage on Canada's West Coast

Marine pilotage in the coastal waters of British Columbia, Canada is mandatory. The Pacific Pilotage Authority Canada (PPA) provides marine pilotage services on a coast-wide basis. The coast-wide model of marine pilotage services offers much flexibility to the users of the service; however, it has its share of operational challenges: inter alia pilot transportation logistics, increasing training and transportation costs, lower responsiveness to local port requirements and a diminishing pool of qualified mariners with coast-wide navigation knowledge and experience. To address the above-mentioned challenges holistically, this analysis recommends that the PPA provide a combination of coastal and port-based pilotage services in areas of high demand and where financially feasible.