Good morning, Madam Chair and other members. Thanks for allowing us the opportunity to sit here this morning to talk briefly about what we do on the east coast and how the amendments could affect pilotage services in a positive way.
As you know, the APA provides licensed pilots to ships that enter our waters, to ensure that these ships travel within the pilotage area as safely and efficiently as possible. The operations of the authority are organized according to geographic location, and the APA has designated 17 areas requiring compulsory pilotage, with one further area currently in the regulatory process. Each of these 17 areas has its own licensed pilots; its own delivery model and arrangements; and unique customers, industries and tariff structure.
In the last five years, the APA has performed 42,397 assignments, including 16,400 tanker movements. We have 106 total employees. This includes both full-time and casual employment. Nearly all of the pilots licensed by the authority are employees. The APA has 50 employee pilots who provide services to the busiest pilotage areas. However, the authority also has 11 pilots who are entrepreneurs and contract with the authority for pilotage services in areas that have small volumes of traffic. The employee pilots do perform 90% of our assignments in the Atlantic.
Under the Pilotage Act, shipmasters who have the required experience and have passed a certificate examination are able to pilot their own vessels in their designated areas. The APA has approximately 79 masters operating with certificates in the Atlantic provinces today. There's a significant number of these movements in the ports of St. John's and Halifax. In 2018, there were a total of 2,800 movements done by certificated masters, an increase from 2,200 the year before. These movements by certificated masters saved the industry about $6.4 million in pilotage fees last year, and $4.8 million in 2017.
Safety is paramount to the authority, and we're pleased to report that the authority has maintained a safety record that is exemplary, with an incident-free rate of 99.94%. The few shipping incidents that have occurred have been without injuries, and no pollutants have been released into Canadian waters. With a focus on maintaining this outstanding record, the APA has now acquired an ISO 9001 quality management system.
As for amendments resulting in efficiencies for APA and the industry as a result of the changes in the act, tariff setting is one of them. The APA sets aside one month for consultations with industry, and once agreed to by industry, it can take as long eight months to get a tariff adjustment approved through the current regulatory process.
Recently, APA has resorted to posting tariff rates for a two-year period to eliminate lost revenue from these delays. This ensures the adjustments are in place each January 1, but accuracy of projected activity and inputs is compromised. This leads to more variance in financial results, where the APA has significant periods of losses or other stretches of time with greater amounts of profit than desired. The new procedure would allow these adjustments to be made more quickly and based on more current information and forecasts. This should reduce the length of time the APA suffers losses or the periods where the APA has more than required profits.
Due to the number of ports in Atlantic Canada, the APA uses pilotage risk management methodology, or PRMM, regularly to measure risk. Between 2010 and 2017, the authority conducted 22 preliminary scans of ports. In recent years, the authority has also conducted 12 full PRMM studies. These studies are used to determine the ports and the vessel classes that must be subject to compulsory pilotage. They take a significant amount of time, resources, personnel and finances, and the results are not often decisive. The APA, as the regulator and the service provider, has at times been seen by interested parties as in a conflict. The proposed amended act removes the APA as the regulator for these determinations and reduces the appearance of potential bias by increasing transparency.
In terms of investment vehicles, the Pilotage Act currently limits the authority's investments to include only instruments that are guaranteed by federal, provincial, or municipal governments. There are other low-risk instruments offered by major banks with higher rates. Having the ability to invest in vehicles with a higher return would result in greater savings for capital replacement without a significant increase in risk.
The progress of technology and advancements in risk evaluation are continuous. Although this is captured in the amendments, industry will continue to evolve. Thus, the 10-year review of the act will be important so that future changes can be incorporated into the delivery of pilotage services.
Since 1972, of course, the four authorities have made their own regulations to react to their own unique circumstances. With regulations being centralized in Ottawa, with Transport Canada as the regulator, there will be more opportunity to align some of the APA regulations with the others, becoming more efficient and easier to understand for industry and more transparent for all parties.
The APA and its pilots are keenly interested in ensuring that safety is not compromised when new facilities are built or when a change in stakeholders is expected in a particular port. The authority makes its pilots available to assist industry and communities with various marine projects. Since 2014, the APA has provided consultation services on over 22 projects that have stretched through all districts.