Pilot Station

From a Rotary Club of Caloundra Meeting, Travis was guest speaker

Richard was also thanked for his role in procuring today's guest

Travis has been Operations Manager for the pilots for the last four years.

He has previously worked with Mercury, then fishing ..ticket ..tugs, ferries, barges dredges, pilots in 2010, marine engineering

A lot of shipping sneaks in and out at night - up to 14 movements per night

History

mid 1800s - Amity was the first Pilots Station, but the wreck of the Sovereign showed this was not the safest passage into Moreton Bay

The Cape Moreton Lighthouse in 1854 became Queensland's first - it was tendered by NSW

They originally rowed out to ships then specialised shops such as the Matthew Flinders and John Oxley were used

Then North West Chanel became the main route into Brisbane in the late nineteenth century

Caloundra Head Lighthouse was built in 1896 see early lighthouse timeline

Moolalaba was developed in the 1960s - the stone for the walls was quarried from Buderim

In 1989 the government gave control to the pilots as shareholders (Wayne Goss tried to take it back)

And they don't miss you at the cash register either - a round trip costs $7,000 in pilotage

Total port cost including tugs etc etc can be up to $700K

Shipping hangs around offshore because they can't anchor off Sydney, or for cleaning holds

There is a tidal window for larger ships, with 14m draft ships in 16m channel depth - One degree roll can add a metre to draft

Transit time is around three hours - the car carriers do 19 knots

The 340m container ships need two pilots. The navy have their own pilots

Travis was thanked for his presentation

discusses Pilot boats, Moolooaba etc, Matthew Flinders & John Oxley, shipping,