Section 166 Pilotage exemption certificate

(1) The general manager may grant a pilotage exemption certificate to a person for a ship or type of ship for a pilotage area.

Note— The procedure for obtaining a pilotage exemption certificate is in chapter 6, part 2.

(2) The general manager may grant a pilotage exemption certificate to a person only if—

(a) the person holds an appropriate licence or certificate of competency to operate the ship, or type of ship, as its master under—

(i) the Act; or

(ii) a law of the Commonwealth or another State; or

(iii) for a certificate issued to a person for a foreign registered ship—the law of the country under whose laws the ship is registered; and

(b) the person passes a pilotage exemption test comprising—

(i) a written test about the person’s knowledge of the pilotage area; and

(ii) a practical ship-handling test in the pilotage area; and

(c) the general manager is reasonably satisfied—

(i) the person has completed a reasonable number of voyages in the area as the master, or the chief mate in charge of a navigation watch, of a ship comparable in size to the ship or type of ship; and

(ii) marine operations in the pilotage area will not be endangered by granting the certificate.

(3) The general manager may grant a pilotage exemption certificate only for a ship that is—

(a) an Australian registered ship, other than a tank ship of 200m or more; or

(b) a foreign registered ship that is a dredging plant, or is part of a dredging plant, and operating in a pilotage area, or part of a pilotage area, stated in a direction of a harbour master under section 88 of the Act.

(4) In this section—

Australian registered ship means a ship—

(a) registered under—

(i) the Act; or

(ii) the Shipping Registration Act 1981 (Cwlth); or

(iii) a law of another State about the registration of ships; or

(b) for which the national regulator has issued a certificate of operation under the national law.

chief mate means the second in command of a ship.

dredging plant means a ship, a group of ships or a combination of ships, operating solely for the purpose of conducting or assisting dredging operations.

foreign registered ship means a ship registered under a law of a foreign country about the registration of ships.

tank ship means a ship that is—

(a) an oil tanker; or

(b) a chemical carrier; or

(c) a liquefied gas carrier.