BY BARNEY ORERE
THE Australasian Region of Marine Pilotage is coming to PNG when the Australian Marine Pilots Institute gathers this time next year in Port Moresby for the proposed Pilotage and Logistics Conference.
The man who brought this about, Captain Max Stoessel, CEO of Niugini Pilots Limited said this in the wake of an assessment visit to Port Moresby early this month by the current president of Australasian Marine Pilots Institute (AMPI) with two senior vice presidents.
The visit by AMPI executives was to assess PNG’s capacity to host the planned gathering, said Captain Stoessel.
AMPI board members during their visit to Port Moresby with Salote Mucunabitu (second from left) of Niugini Pilots Limited.
He was commenting on newspaper articles attributed to PNG Ports Corporation that the corporation had made it possible for a large group of its marine pilots to become members of AMPI that somehow was linked to the encroaching conference.
Captain Stoessel clarified that PNG did not have a professional marine pilots body as such until the Australian Marine Pilots Institute (AMPI) created the Australasian offshoot that opened doors for marine pilots in the region to become affiliated members.
The conference followed financial members and it was his sole membership and involvement with AMPI since 2015 that made it possible for the conference to be staged in PNG.
Said Captain Stoessel: “While it is gratifying to see many more marine pilots join up, the PNGPCL Pilots are privileged and owe gratitude to the Management and Board of PNGPCL.
But I wish to say from the outset that the membership works on individual andpersonal professional upkeep basis and that each marine pilot as a memberusually expected to meet his own expenses as well as contribute to activities of the institute . This means very high standards and performance are expected bearing in mind the privilege accorded by PNG Ports.
Niugini Pilots Limited Directors and Management has been committed to AMPI and its coming to PNG is by virtue of our pioneering involvement.
PNG as a host destination was decided at the 2019 conference in Sydney witnessed by the late Minister of Transport- Honorable William Samb to happen in October 2020 but was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Published by Post Courier: 23/06/2023