Review of pilotage processes and indicators in pilotage organisations

A questionnaire survey was conducted to find out how pilotage organisations in different countries assess and measure the quality, efficiency and safety of their operations. An e-mail survey was sent to 54 pilotage organisations in Australia, Canada, and Western and Northern Europe. All International Standard for Maritime Pilot Organizations (ISPO) members were also included. The survey yielded 13 answers from eight countries. The organisations were questioned about their standards and management systems, standard operating procedures and measuring tools. According to the query, most of the pilotage organisations use standard-based management systems such as ISO 9001 or the ISPO. The main measuring tools for pilotage comprise of statistical information concerning pilotage and the organisations, customer feedback surveys and financial results. The results of the survey were used as a guideline for developing a pilotage process model and indicators for measuring the effectiveness and quality of the pilotage process for the Finnish pilotage company Finnpilot Pilotage Ltd.     

Present pilotage practices in Finland

Pilotage has been studied very little internationally and also in Finland. However, accidents in which pilots have been involved have been investigated thoroughly. Studies show that the traditional individual-centred pilotage with non-written passage plans no longer serves the needs of today's traffic and vessels that have increased in size. Pilotage should be based on the so-called good pilotage practices, i.e. pre-prepared, yet adaptable passage plans, more efficient bridge co-operation and modern navigation instruments. Yet, these are not an integral part of the prevailing pilotage practices in Finland. Pilotage should be developed so that the safety management systems of the vessels support the co-operation on the bridge, but on the other hand, so that the advantages of today's pilotage practices are maintained.     

Innovation types in the Finnish maritime cluster

The Finnish maritime cluster is an important sector of Finland's economy. However, literature on innovative activities within the cluster is limited. This article focuses on Finnish shipbuilding and marine industry firms. Several innovation types are identified. These are analyzed according to general characteristics of firms. The data is from a survey of 148 shipbuilding and marine industry companies; most of the variables are ordinal scale and are analyzed with standard statistical survey methods. Considering the significance and past technological achievements of the sector the results indicate surprisingly low radical innovation related-activity and attitudes towards it. As well, the results provide no evidence to support previous research, suggesting that the shipbuilding and marine industry produces more organizational than technological innovations. The innovativeness of the firms varies according to distinct characteristics such as size, intensity of in-house and collaborative R&D activities, and level of internationalization. The empirical results provide a platform for policy implications and directions for future research; innovations concerning environmental efficiency are raised as an important future area of development.     

A method for extracting key performance indicators from maritime safety management norms

The maritime transportation industry currently employs several mandatory and non-mandatory norms of organizational safety management. These safety norms are commonly included in integrated maritime safety management systems, which aim at developing, monitoring, controlling and improving the safety of all related shipping operations. These systems are typically evaluated by following key performance indicators, which enable defined measures for various safety management components. However, the identification of indicators addressing safety management requirements constitutes a complex and generally unsystematic process for safety managers in the maritime industry. This article proposes a new method to assess the guidelines available in maritime safety management norms. The proposed method is applied to assess the content of two maritime safety management norms. The aim of this assessment is to identify a set of maritime safety management indicators that can systematically measure the most relevant components of maritime safety management. The application of this method resulted in the identification of 53 key performance indicators for monitoring and reviewing 23 identified safety management components that are commonly integrated into the functioning of maritime safety management systems. The method proposed provides guidance to accurately capture the actual aim and function of the key performance indicators. Furthermore, the indicators and safety components obtained with this method can be adopted as the basis for a safety management system and/or for the analysis of a safety management system already established in the industry.     

Practical experiences on incident reporting in maritime pilotage in Finland

Incidents and near misses are generally reported poorly in the shipping industry. Several researches have been conducted in order to find out the underlying reasons for poor reporting, and to provide methods for increasing the reporting activity. Nevertheless, major changes in reporting activity are not yet visible. An interview study was conducted among Finnish pilots in order to find out how active pilots are in their incident reporting and what issues affect their reporting activity. The interview study revealed that the pilots’ activeness in reporting incidents varies notably, which is rather uncommon in the maritime sector. The variability is manifested in the reporting activity and in the evaluation of occurrences that are to be reported as incidents. According to the interviewed pilots, the main reasons behind the varying reporting activity were that the pilots found it difficult to evaluate the occurrences that should be reported, they did not get feedback from their reports, and the reporting system did not always have a correct option for the incident the pilots wanted to report. In addition, the personal attitudes and characteristics of the pilots affected their reporting activity to some extent. Contrary to previous studies, blame culture was not considered to be a contributing factor. One reason for the varying reporting activity might also be that the maritime personnel have not perceived the significance of incident reporting and thus do not understand the positive consequences of reporting incidents. If the idea of incident reporting and continuous improvement is fully comprehended, defining what issues should be reported would not be hard.     

Climate change projections for variables affecting road networks in Europe

Global climate change will affect road networks during this century. The effects will be different in various parts of the world due to differences in local climate change and in the structure and properties of roads. In this paper, climate change projections are presented for climate variables that are most likely to affect the long-term performance of road networks in Europe. We apply four regional climate simulations up to the year 2100 using two plausible future emission scenarios. The results show that the changing climate will require significant adaptation measures in the near future in order to maintain the operability of the European road network.     

Incident reporting in Finnish shipping companies

The purpose of the International Safety Management Code (the ISM Code) is to promote safety culture in the maritime industry. Learning the lessons from incidents should help to improve safety performance since incidents and accidents can share the same root causes. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at incident reporting in the Finnish shipping industry, to study the reasons for poor incident reporting and to suggest improvements to increase reporting. The paper consists of a literature study, which focuses on previous studies concerning incident reporting, and an interview study, which focuses on Finnish shipping companies and their personnel. The interview study confirmed that incident reporting does not function properly within the Finnish maritime industry. The maritime personnel have an occupational culture which is incompatible with the rule-based safety management approach provided by the ISM Code. The willingness to report incidents could be increased if all seafarers were involved in the reporting process and the preparation of corrective actions. In addition, the reporting procedures should be streamlined and developed to a more user-friendly direction.