Florida Harbor Pilots Association
Founded in 1868, the Florida Harbor Pilots Association is a voluntary organization comprised of 11 member associations that serve each of Florida’s 14 deepwater ports. The Florida Harbor Pilots Association is designed to promote goodwill, provide leadership and coordinate all efforts and represent our member associations at the state level.

Currently, our association has 97 state-regulated and licensed harbor pilots that have been taking navigational control of foreign flagged cargo and cruise ships and directing their movement into and out of Florida’s ports for decades. As a harbor pilot within our association, it is our duty to act in the public interest and maintain independent judgment from any outside influences that may jeopardize maritime safety.

All of our harbor pilots are independent contractors, belonging to a member association within our state’s pilotage region, and are responsible for maintaining and operating one or more offices and pilots stations, pilot boats, dispatch system, electronic equipment and administrative services.



High-risk Job
The risks our harbor pilots face are unlike those faced by any other mariner. Our harbor pilots are transferred from pilot boats out at sea onto and off of extremely large moving vessels, often during poor weather conditions and rough seas.

Once the pilot boat maneuvers alongside the ship, our harbor pilot boards the ship by stepping or leaping onto a rope ladder hanging from the ship’s side. The harbor pilot climbs the ladder, up to 30 feet high, to the top of the main deck and proceeds to the bridge. It is important to note our harbor pilots are frequently injured and sometimes killed in the course of this dangerous transfer.

Once onboard, it is the harbor pilot’s job to familiarize him or herself with the ship’s navigational equipment, performance characteristics and mechanical conditions and then direct the movement of the ship, while often dealing with a foreign crew that speaks limited to no English.

In the course of piloting the vessels, it is important that our harbor pilots remain constantly vigilant, as the slightest misjudgment or lapse of concentration can lead to disaster. The magnitude of the risks involved are very high – loss of life and massive environmental and property damage. In the event of such an accident, we not only face the loss of our license, but the end of our career, personal financial ruin with massive uninsurable liabilities and possible imprisonment.

First Line of Defense
Our state-regulated and licensed harbor pilots understand the importance of navigating our state’s channels and ensuring all foreign flagged cargo and cruise ships are brought into and out of all 14 of our deepwater ports safely. Our harbor pilots are experts on the intricate details and local conditions of the waterways and channels within Florida’s ports and serve as the watchdogs for the numerous cruise and cargo ships coming into and out of these ports, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

With the continuous flow of cruise and cargo ships, our harbor pilots are the first line of defense against security threats to Florida’s ports, serving to keep our homeland safe and secure. Additionally, our harbor pilots work closely with the U.S. Coast Guard and local port authorities to ensure safe transit of all vessels.

Highly Skilled & Trained
Nearly all harbor pilots currently licensed by the State of Florida have graduated from a four-year federal or state maritime academy, which are equivalent to the nation’s military academies, demanding a high level of scholastic performance in a military environment.  A graduate of one of these maritime academies earns a bachelor’s degree and a U.S. Coast Guard license as a deck officer-third mate unlimited.
 
The recent graduate and newly licensed deck officer then leaves his or her family and goes to sea, serving on ocean-going vessels for 10 to 12 years, working their way up through increasing levels of responsibility, until the vast majority advance their license to an unlimited master and also sail in command of oceangoing ships.
 
If the licensed professional mariner chooses to become a harbor pilot within the State of Florida, they must await an opening in a port, apply for the opening, meet the requisite experience and physical requirements; then spend hundreds of hours studying for a very arduous exam that will test seamanship and require complete and accurate recall of every detail of the port in question.  Once the licensed professional mariner has passed the exam, they will enter in a training program as a deputy pilot. 
 
The deputy harbor pilot will then train with licensed harbor pilots within the port for a period of up to three years, gradually increasing the size and difficulty of the vessels.  Once this training is complete, a deputy harbor pilot must pass another rigorous exam before becoming licensed by the Department of Business & Professional Regulation.
 
Licensed harbor pilots will then work with the other pilots in the designated ports to handle the ship traffic coming inbound and outbound of the port.  Licensed harbor pilots become responsible for the most dangerous part of the sea voyage for the ships and public at large – navigating the ships into and out of the ports, maneuvering through bays and narrow channels, under bridges and in proximity to Florida’s ports and shore facilities; all while contending with other ship and boat traffic and the effects of weather, wind, currents, tides and other challenges to safe vessel movement.