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SPECIAL FEATURE: BOATS & YACHTING AWARDS WINNERS<br />
Malta Business Review<br />
Diversity, Protection & Safety<br />
By Margaret Brincat<br />
Capt. Jesmond Mifsud, Chief Pilot, Malta Maritime Pilots, talks<br />
about the vision around what he wanted to build with the Malta<br />
Maritime Pilots, maintaining it acts as a beacon and also as a<br />
platform for efficient marine vessel pilot services and consultancies<br />
relevant to pilotage, navigation and sea-faring. Recently, MMP were<br />
declared the winners of the Best Maritime Pilot of the Year Award<br />
during the Malta International Boats & Yachting Awards 2017.<br />
The setting up of Malta Maritime Pilots<br />
resulted from the need to organise pilotage<br />
on a professional basis with the overriding<br />
aim to make certain that ships arriving or<br />
leaving our ports do so in a safe and efficient<br />
manner. Pilots thus ensure the safety of<br />
navigation in and around the ports of Malta,<br />
with the important outcome of protecting<br />
the environment and consequently rendering<br />
an essential service in the public interest.<br />
This is carried out within the framework<br />
of European legislation and international<br />
maritime conventions that ensures financial<br />
transparency while at the same time<br />
maintaining the highest standards.<br />
This would not have been possible without<br />
the concomitant investment not only in<br />
equipment but more important, in human<br />
resources. The current cohort that constitutes<br />
the membership of MMP is the greatest<br />
concentration of master mariners in any<br />
local maritime organisation. The majority of<br />
pilots have long years of sea service where<br />
the experience gained on various ship types<br />
and trades has served the co- operative<br />
well. Prospective pilots are enrolled after it<br />
is ascertained that they are in possession<br />
of the appropriate qualifications and from<br />
then on our organisation undertakes that<br />
training is on-going process. Training is the<br />
cornerstone of our commitment ensuring<br />
quality, efficiency, safety and investment<br />
in the professional development of the coop’s<br />
members, its employees and all those<br />
involved in the local maritime sector. In 2010,<br />
a milestone was reached with the opening of<br />
the Mediterranean Maritime Research and<br />
Training Centre, (MMRTC), which houses<br />
two of the most advanced full-mission bridge<br />
simulators. These are used for pilots’ shiphandling<br />
training as well as undertaking risk<br />
assessments related to large vessels that call<br />
at our ports.<br />
The success of Malta Maritime Pilots is due<br />
to a variety of factors, not least the fact that<br />
we are a co-operative of 16 members who<br />
have united voluntarily to meet our common<br />
economic and social needs and aspirations<br />
through a jointly owned and democratically<br />
controlled enterprise. The structure of a coop<br />
ensures that each pilot has a responsibility<br />
to his colleagues for the common good<br />
and prosperity of the company. Diversity<br />
of views is also a guarantee that the best<br />
way forward is followed. Lastly, but surely<br />
not least, the induction of aspirant pilots<br />
into our organisation not only injects new<br />
blood, but more important, the new ideas<br />
and innovation necessary to resolve future<br />
challenges. <strong>MBR</strong><br />
All rights reserved - Copyright 2017<br />
Capt. Jesmond Mifsud, Chief Pilot, Malta Maritime Pilots<br />
Capt. Jesmond Mifsud, Chief Pilot, Malta Maritime Pilots receiving the award.<br />
www.maltabusinessreview.net<br />
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