(AP) Tugboat pilot plan may have backfired

Came across this interesting article by the Associated Press concerning tug operator licensing.

Jul 8th, 2009 | NEW ORLEANS — A federal program to recruit more tugboat pilots may have backfired by allowing thousands of novice captains to take the helm and contributing to a 25 percent increase in the number of accidents on the nation’s rivers.

An Associated Press review of Coast Guard records indicates that the U.S. tugboat fleet is increasingly piloted by captains who have spent as little as one year in the wheelhouse.

“We have the highest horsepower in history, pushing more tonnage than ever in history, with the least knowledgeable personnel in history. It is a disaster. Look at the accidents we’ve had in the past few years.”

Said Richard Block, secretary of the mariners’ group: “You can’t learn to run a towing vessel overnight, and some of these companies are simply rushing it too much.”

Read the whole article here.