A Study of Maritime Transportation Routes Enforced for Pilotage

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and improve the pilotage in Thailand to increase efficiency and safety in navigation. The objectives of the study were 1)  to study the attitude of pilots in six port areas in Thailand toward maritime transportation are that enforced for pilotage in three aspects: route, port, and personnel aspects, and 2) to compare the pilots’ attitude from each port area by using one-way ANOVA, and 3) to study important physical characteristics of each port. Data were collected by using questionnaire that was validated by using the Index of Item – Objective Congruence method. The participants were 62 pilots. Another instrument was in-depth interviews that were completed with 21 participants. The results showed that the pilots agreed most on personnel aspect followed by port and route aspects, respectively. The pilots agreed that working experiences and working hours the most important factor for pilotage. The issues that should be improved the most were ‘the consistency between working hours and resting hours of pilots’ and ‘the adequate number of pilots to the amount of ships receiving the pilotage service.The results of the comparison among pilots’ attitude toward maritime transportation showed that the pilots from six ports had a similar attitude toward the issues in port aspect. However, they had significantly different attitude toward the issues in route and personnel aspects (p < 0.05). The results of the physical characteristics of each maritime transportation area showed that the Bangkok port area was the most difficult route for pilotage in Thailand.