The president of a local marine pilotage organization has claimed that it is still seeking government approval to establish an independent pilotage agency after failed negotiations with the Bahamas Oil Refining Company International Limited (BORCO) and the Freeport Harbour Company (FHC). Captain Kendall Williamson, president of the Bahamas Marine Pilots Association (BMPA), confirmed that the BMPA is awaiting a response from the Ministry of Transport after it submitted a business license proposal in April. "Presently we're waiting on the government for proposals that we put forth to the Ministry of Transport...to conduct operations in Grand Bahama and engage in pilot services outside of the port."We know that they're working on it very aggressively, so we're just waiting for the matter to be resolved. We're hoping that the matter will be concluded at the earliest time possible," said Williamson. Fifteen marine pilots resigned from the FHC and BORCO in early March. Since that time, Guardian Business understands that only three of those pilots have resumed working for the two companies.Williamson noted that, while the BMPA's proposal to the government was not its initial intent, the proposal was necessary once negotiations between the BMPA and BORCO and the FHC ceased. Williamson confirmed that the FHC and BORCO "fully declined to engage [the BMPA's] services", following the pilots' departure. Former BMPA President Erin Ferguson stated in April that the BMPA had applied for a business license to operate in Freeport as a company, given that all of its pilots were individually licensed. BORCO and the FHC threatened to replace BMPA members with new pilots, a move the BMPA called "very dangerous", given the potential inexperience of any new pilots. BORCO and the FHC earlier denied the pilots' claims regarding safety issues in the Freeport Harbour under the former pilotage system, arguing that the pilots' association was primarily concerned with establishing a monopoly over pilotage in Freeport. Williamson confirmed that the BMPA remains concerned over the safety of operations within the port and insisted that the BMPA wants to bring operations in the port up to International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards. "The push of the BMPA towards independent, self-funded, non-competitive pilotage, with one pilots' association per port operating pilotage, is completely reasonable and along the lines followed worldwide," said Williamson, speaking before the International Maritime Pilotage Association (IMPA) in April.Minister of Transport Glenys Hanna-Martin was not available for comment up to press time.

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