Fourth Zone Maritime Pilotage Co., Ltd Asserting Competency, Responsibility

A maritime pilotage is very important to maritime shipping, maritime safety and environmental pollution prevention to all incoming and outgoing ships. In the past time, Fourth Zone Maritime Pilotage Single Member Limited Liability Company has always paid high attention to developing policies and applying synchronous solutions to improve the quality, reliability and efficiency of services and excellently fulfilled all tasks assigned by the State. In the coming time, the company will continue to invest in equipment and human resources to enhance its pilotage, raise its position and increase its contributions to local socioeconomic development.

Human resources are the key
Fourth Zone Maritime Pilotage Co., Ltd is responsible for providing tugging and towing services for domestic and foreign seagoing vessels to and from its designated ports from Thua Thien Hue province to Quang Ngai province; supporting and towing ships out to the sea and into the port; providing ship agent services and crew transport; and leasing offices.

“The company faced numerous business difficulties and challenges in early days. But, with the resolution of all the staff, the company now has a modern equipment system and a capable workforce to fulfil all tasks assigned and contribute more to the development of the Vietnamese maritime industry, Da Nang City, the Central Coast and the Central Highlands, and the entire country. As a result, all business indicators such as serviced ships, output, revenue and profit grow year after year. Incomes and livelihoods of the employees are getting better,” said Mr Tran Thanh Nhung Director of Fourth Zone Maritime Pilotage Co., Ltd.
To build and develop the corporate brand, improve the quality and reliability of maritime pilotage services, and firmly uphold the trust of partners, the company always attaches great importance to training and developing its human resources of professional expertise, foreign languages, the sense of responsibility and diligence. Specially, it trains and builds up the maritime pilot force - an important, decisive factor to the quality and reliability of services provided by the company for customers.

The minimum requirements for becoming a third-class maritime pilot (the lowest class) include ship control system engineers, deck officers of ships of 500 GT or more with at least 12-month experience of the same position, graduated from basic pilotage theory class, passed third-class apprenticeship for at least three years and finally passed rigorous examination and assessment by higher-ranked maritime pilots.

“We are confident to meet all these requirements because every staff member is professional, highly skilled, fluent in foreign languages, ethical, responsible, competent and experienced. And, the current force of high-ranked maritime pilots are competent to organise rank-ready or rank-upgraded apprenticeship and internship for maritime pilots to meet working requirements,” he emphasised. Not only that, Fourth Zone Maritime Pilotage Co., Ltd always creates a friendly, fair, transparent and democratic work environment, gradually builds up the corporate culture to strengthen unity consensus and dedication of all employees for the company’s sustainable development.

Constant outreach
“Pilots must ensure safety of human beings, ships and freight on board. Ensuring maritime safety, maritime security and environmental protection are immutable. Personally, I have been a maritime pilot for over 20 years and I thus understand aspirations, advantages and disadvantages each employee has. The fulfilment of above three criteria is a value measure of a country-class pilotage company. By abiding these regulations, in 2017, the company led a vessel of 335 metres in length (oversize) into Da Nang Port. The firm also researched and consulted authorities to upgrade berths, towed and served customer ships, and assisted Star Cruises firm to open routes for extra-class passenger ships (carrying over 3,000 passengers on board) into Da Nang Port,” Mr Nhung said.

Pilotage is affected by many objective factors such as hydrometeorological characteristics and passageway features, which are challenges to both ships and pilots in charge of navigating ships. On the other hand, statutorily, the company has to coordinate closely and timely with competent agencies to get the work done. For that reason, in addition to efforts of the company, infrastructure construction, port logistics development and administrative procedure reform are necessarily upgraded to make sure that maritime pilotage is executed faster and better.

Han Luong