River bar pilots say cutbacks dangerous

PORTLAND – Proposed rate changes that could save $1 million a year for shipping companies on the Columbia River have also raised safety concerns for maritime pilots.

Bar pilots, who guide about 3,500 vessels over the treacherous Columbia River Bar each year, stand to lose income from a proposed reduction in the number of licensed pilots and the pay pool they share.

They say it will cause delays and endanger the environment by increasing the workload.

“Some of the players in this seem to have lost sight of the potential for a catastrophe on the bar,” said Robert Johnson, a bar pilot from Astoria.

But steamship operators say bar pilots are exaggerating risks in an attempt to guarantee pay of $184,000 a year and plenty of time off. Pilots work for 20 days and take 20 days off.

“This shouldn’t have any effect on safety whatsoever,” said Jim Townley, executive director of the Columbia River Steamship Operators Association, which represents about 40 companies whose ships and barges travel the river.

The association was joined by the ports of Portland, Vancouver, Wash., and Longview, Wash., to seek rate relief. The ports say that rates paid bar pilots, coupled with separate pay for river pilots who guide ships the length of the Columbia, have made it harder to compete against other West Coast ports for business.

“When you try to market our ports overseas, the response you get is that our pilot costs are astronomical,” Townley said.

Sam Ruda, the Port of Portland’s marine director, said the river system depends on the competence of its bar pilots. But it shouldn’t be allowed “to run amok from a financial standpoint.”

Townley estimates that shipping companies would save more than $1 million a year by reducing four positions.

He said companies paid about $11 million in fees last year for bar pilots.

Under a pending order by an administrative law judge, the nine-member Oregon Board of Maritime Pilots is expected to approve reducing the number of licensed bar pilots from 20 to 16, including one administrative position.

The order would be in effect for two years.