On the Waterfront

Deputy Harbour Master Fergus Britton and VTS Operator Eddie Downes explain the various components that have to work in harmony to ensure the safe arrival and departure of every vessel at Dublin Port.

The Harbour Operations department in Dublin Port Company is responsible for all vessels moving into or out of the port, including ferries, tankers, container ships, pilot boats, tugs and all other traffic on the water in the port area.

Harbour Operations is a sizeable department, which includes the Harbour Masters office (Harbour Master, Deputy Harbour Master and two Assistant Harbour Masters), the Vessel Tracking System (VTS) operators, of which there are five, 12 pilots, 10 tug masters, 24 marine operatives, two office staff on the Shipping Desk, including Karen McLoughlin and Gerry McGurk, as well as Marine Supervisor Paul Clarke who oversees the Marine Ops and VTS, liaises with the tugs, and oversees any tasks on the water, planning the day-to-day work of the Harbour Operations team.

“It’s like a machine with many different moving parts,” laughs Fergus Britton, Deputy Harbour Master, who explains that the Harbour Operations team handle up to 50 ship movements per day, equating to 17,000 per year.

“Every day brings something different,” Fergus reveals. “The only thing that is generally the same is the arrival and departure of the ferries, which varies slightly between weekdays and weekends. The ferries are plannable, our regular runners, and they are the only stable, predictable sailings. Aside from them, tankers, container ships, bulkers and all the other kind of vessels vary from day to day.”

Fergus works hand-in-glove with Harbour Master Michael McKenna, Steven O’Mara, Deputy Harbour Master – Designate, and Assistant Harbour Master Tristan Murphy, who between them are on call 24/7 and are all former Ship’s Masters.

“We deal with any queries or concerns, as they arise,” Fergus states. “Everything has been planned and talked-out but occasionally things change and you might get a call from VTS to ask your opinion. But our VTS operators are very experienced and so it is rare to get a call in the middle of the night.”

State-of-the-art ship management system

All stakeholders, including Harbour Masters, VTS, shipping agents, management companies etc, share a digital management information system, called Klein, a state-of-the-art ship management system created by Saab, which is used by ports and shipping agents across the world. All stakeholders can input information to the system 24 hours a day, information which can then be monitored by the other users.

“All information captured by Klein is online and instantly accessible,” Fergus explains. “At the Shipping Desk, we then use that information to create the road-map for the VTS, who then use that as their plan for each 12-hour shift. The VTS operator then micro-manages the arrival and departure of vessels over that shift.”

Each vessel has a designated slot time, and while unforeseeable events and severe weather conditions can make things tricky, the Deputy Harbour Master stresses that a vessel with a designated slot time takes priority: “It is critical, particularly with ferries, that people and goods arrive at their destination at the designated time.”

“The slot times are arranged so that a vessel swinging into a berth at the seaward end of the port doesn’t block another vessel which is travelling further up the river into the city, for example,” he explains. “That is all prethought out. With extreme weather conditions, things change, and it can get a little more stressful for the VTS operator, who has to make the decision on which ship gets precedence, but we generally know if there is bad weather on the way and so we work through our schedule and put a logical sequence on it.”

Vessel Tracking System (VTS)

Of course, bad weather isn’t the only thing that can affect ships at sea, and the VTS operator has to be able to handle any issues that may arise, including mechanical failure of ships’ engines.

“Occasionally, a vessel may lose its power and that has to be managed, because we need to keep vessels moving. If something like that happens, the VTS will inform the on-duty or on-call Harbour Master, and we will then make a decision on what happens next: we have a tug on 15-minute stand-by to assist any vessel that needs help. If a vessel is just about to break away and the river is blocked, for whatever reason, we will call the captain and ask them to go back alongside and hold position until we clear the blockage. It’s all done very calmly. Unlike the airport, our vessels don’t fall out of the sky, so it’s a little easier for us,” Fergus laughs. “Thankfully, dramatic situations are few and far between.”

His words are echoed by Eddie Downes, one of the five VTS operators within Dublin Port, who explains that “Air traffic control is 3D, what we do is 2D.”

Eddie, who moved ‘upstairs’ from Marine Ops in June 2020, stresses that the VTS team have a lot more organisation on their hands than their counterparts in air traffic control: “We book the pilots, co-ordinate with the various shipping agents and management companies, liaise with the marine operatives, tugs and any other stakeholders. Our main focus is on managing the space within the Port area; if you’re captain of a ship, you are worried about the safety of one ship, but we are focused on all ships operating in a safe environment within our space.”

Pictured above: With the pilot boat DPC Tolka are (l-r) Fergus Britton, Deputy Harbour Master; Michael McKenna, Harbour Master; Alan Goodchild from Goodchild Marine Services; and Tristan Murphy, Assistant Harbour Master.

The VTS service is manned 24-hours per day, 365 days per year. Does the responsibility weigh heavily on their shoulders?

“It can,” Eddie admits. “But we all have a lot of seagoing experience, so this is bread-and-butter to us.”

Eddie himself was a sub-lieutenant and a navigation officer in the Irish Navy, as well as having experience on oil tankers, while the other four VTS operators have vast experience at sea, from ferries to tankers. The majority of them also spent time as Marine Operatives within Dublin Port, so they are incredibly familiar with the workings of the Port. Still, they take on the responsibility for up to 40 vessel movements during each 12-hour shift, working a four-day rotation of two day-shifts and two night-shifts.

“Because the majority of us have come up to VTS from ‘downstairs’, we’re familiar with Dublin Port and its weather,” Eddie notes. “We know from certain sea states or when the wind is coming from certain directions that it is going to be tough, so we can add a few minutes to each job. Things change so rapidly in Dublin Port that having that knowledge of ship operations is vital.

“It is a very dynamic environment. Something could happen weather-wise, a ship could break down, another vessel might have to switch berths at the last moment, we could have a traffic situation – for example, if a ship ‘goes dark’ and loses its engines, we guide other traffic away from that. We have procedures in place to deal with any scenario and because we have experience of being on board ships, we know how long certain jobs will take and whether adverse weather will affect them.”

While revealing that “there really isn’t a typical day,” Eddie feels that non-professional sea-farers are the biggest challenge in the job. “It would be like working in Air Traffic Control at Dublin Airport and suddenly having to deal with weekend flyers,” he laughs. “We have to deal with a lot of people that don’t understand the rules within the Port, as they don’t come from a sea-faring background. I’ve had kayakers wanting to take photos of a cruise ship but not realising how close they came to real danger. You are dealing with people who aren’t professionals. A ship’s captain and officers are trained and you expect a certain level of competency but when it comes to pleasure craft, on a warm day in summer, it can be challenging.”

The best-laid plans can come unstuck if the weather gods decide to be unreasonable. “If a fog comes in, for example, it is like a dual-carriageway going down to a single lane, which changes the whole plan and you have to re-organise everything, deciding which vessels get preference,” Eddie explains. “Or if it is really windy and all the ferries are coming in and they all want a tug, you have to split them up to make sure everyone is safe.”

Eddie Downes, VTS operator, pictured on board the DPC Tolka on its arrival into Dublin Port.

Pilots: ensuring safe passage

One way the Harbour Operations team ensure the safe passage of ships into and out of the port is via its team of pilots. Pilotage accounts for 4,000 vessel movements every year, or 10-15 per day. The ferry captains and some other regular visitors traditionally have a Port Exemption Certificate (PEC), having completed an oral exam and a Certificate of Competency set by the Department of Transport, which means that they don’t need a pilot to enter or exit the harbour. But all other vessels typically require the services of a pilot to guide them into and out of the port.

“The only way to get a pilot out to a ship is by boat,” explains Fergus. “We have a minimum of two marine operatives in the pilot boat, as well as the pilot, just in case anything happens with a pilot ascending or descending a ship’s ladder. As well as the coxswain of the pilot boat, we have a deckhand or ‘bayman’ as we call them; the bayman, who is always clipped on with a lanyard, goes on deck with the pilot, checks the ladder to make sure it is safe, and stands right beside the ladder to ensure the pilot gets safely on board the vessel, then gives a clear signal to the coxswain to take the boat away.”

The marine operatives, including the coxswains and baymen on the pilot boats, are all experienced mariners, who are qualified to drive the pilot boat and some of whom are also V103 qualified, which allows them to operate the VTS. Most marine operatives can also operate as a Mate on the Port’s tugs, and they also work on the Port’s workboats, including the Rosbeg, the Poolbeg and Bradogue.

Dublin Port Company’s risk management system means they train for every eventuality when it comes to the pilot boarding or disembarking ships. “We recognise that it is a risk – a ship’s ladder could be faulty or it could be very slippy in bad weather,” Fergus explains, “so we train for such eventualities, numerous times per week with live exercises; we have a recovery platform in every pilot boat and we exercise that up to seven times per week with a dummy.”

If the incoming vessels is 160-metres or more, the pilot boards at the outer pilot boarding position, which is east of the Bailey Lighthouse at Howth, 6.5 nautical miles from the Port Operations Centre on Breakwater Road. If it is a smaller vessel or adverse weather makes boarding at the outer position dangerous, the inner pilot boarding position is 4.5-5 nautical miles from the Port Operations Centre.

The Burford Bank, a permanently water-covered sandbank, provides Dublin Bay with good shelter, and means that there are two access/egress points, one to the north and one to the south, so vessels can be directed to either the north or south channel, depending on weather and wind conditions. When the pilot boat crew come on duty, they check the conditions of the bay in terms of wind and swell and they will make a decision on how safe it is to board vessels in the bay. Ultimately, it is the pilot’s decision on whether he/she feels it is safe to board the ship from the pilot boat and vice versa.

Forward planning

Ultimately, the key to the successful running of the Harbour Operations team is the amount of organisation that goes into it, as Fergus sums up: “We don’t want too many vessel movements at the same time, and pilotage has to work around the slot times for the ferries, so it takes a lot of planning to organise the arrival and sailing times of non-ferry traffic, especially if they require a pilot. We have approximately 30 ferry movements per 24-hour period, so organising the safe movement of vessels takes up a lot of time and a lot of organisation.”

Forward planning is vital for the Harbour Operations team, who begin working on a shipping schedule up to three years ahead of schedule. Cruise liners, in particular, need to know their schedule years ahead of setting sail and generally send a list of requirements to the Harbour Operations team, who then have to work through them to fit them into the schedule.

“If you work well in advance, it allows you time to plan properly and you can see the schedule evolve over time,” Fergus maintains. “We plan as far out as we can. Once a ship is in the system, we know it is there and we will work other ships around it on a priority basis.”

Dublin Port has a fleet of working vessels, including pilot boats and tugs.