Good morning, Madam Chair and honourable members of the committee.
The Corporation des pilotes du Saint-Laurent central brings together the pilots on the St. Lawrence between Quebec City and Montreal, including the port of Montreal. With 112 pilots and 14 apprentice pilots currently enrolled in the rigorous 24-month training program, the corporation has one of the largest memberships in the country. I personally am a pilot between Trois-Rivières and Montreal, and Vice-President, Laurentian Region, of the Canadian Marine Pilots Association. I also chair its committee on research, innovation and pilotage techniques. I therefore invite you to ask questions on those subjects.
During the review of the Pilotage Act, there was a lot of talk about the costs of and need for a piloting system in terms of Canada’s economic competitiveness. So let’s look at the facts.
In the last five years, the consumer price index has increased by 11.7%. In that time, pilotage fees on the St. Lawrence have increased by only 8.1%. In the same period, the volume of cargo in the Port of Montreal increased by 28%, reaching 39 million metric tonnes in 2018. This is the fifth consecutive record year. In those five years, there were approximately 110,000 pilotage assignments on the St. Lawrence River, with no significant incidents; 99.8% of those assignments took place with no delay attributable to the pilots. This is against the concurrent backdrop of ever-increasing average vessel size. Between 2007 and 2017, the size of the vessels between Quebec City and Montreal increased by 45%.
For Canada, pilotage is a judicious and essential investment. In a context where shipowners pass their costs on to consumers, pilotage costs about $6 per year per Canadian consumer. A cost-benefit analysis of pilotage showed that the return on that investment is about $120 per year per Canadian.
St. Lawrence pilots welcome the amendments to the act. The proposed compliance regime offers the promise of greater impartiality in decision-making and more systematic enforcement of the act. The emphasis on technology also plays into what is already a major strength of the system. Canadian pilots are recognized internationally for their leadership in navigation electronics and innovative pilotage technologies.
On the St. Lawrence, we played a key role in the establishment of initiatives allowing safe transit of ever-larger vessels in situations that could not have been foreseen only a few years ago, such as two-way night-time traffic into Montreal in the winter. These successes can be attributed to our expertise in rigorous risk analysis studies, comparative analysis, and simulator trials, as well as to our consultations with government bodies and users.
We also welcome the fact that the Pilotage Act, 2019, recognizes the environmental concerns of Canadians.
On the St. Lawrence, the complexity of local issues such as winter navigation, high tides, ever-present shallows, the narrowness of some sectors in relation to the size of the vessels, traffic density, and the proximity of riverfront properties, require a very high level of knowledge of local waters.
The act maintains a rigorous approach, with the result that those navigating commercial vessels demonstrate great skill. This is true not only for the pilots, but also for the captains of Canadian vessels who want to obtain a certificate allowing them to pilot their own vessels.
On that point, contrary to what some have suggested, a certification program for pilots on the St. Lawrence already exists. The program has been updated over the years to make it more accessible. However, it is important to remember that the program, which includes a requirement for a command of French, since communications on the river are mainly done in French, to serve the public interest, not the interests of the pilots and the industry. This is our raison d’être. We are independent experts, mandated by the government to ensure that the public interest is predominant on the waters of our river. The act reaffirms that responsibility and we humbly accept it.
Thnak you, Madam Chair.