Rhode Island commission that oversees cargo ship pilots reacts to Baltimore tragedy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — After Tuesday morning’s unthinkable tragedy in Baltimore, Maryland, ABC 6 News spoke with the chair of the Rhode Island State Pilotage Commission.

The commission’s job is to make sure that cargo ships coming into Narragansett Bay are being operated in a way that’s safe for the public and the environment.

Jason McNamee, the chair of the Rhode Island State Pilotage Commission, said the Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse in Baltimore is something the commission will be reviewing.

The commission oversees the group of pilots that work on cargo ships in Rhode Island.

The pilots are from a private company, Northeast Marine Pilots Association.

“It’s actually a dangerous job and these mariners are highly skilled but what they do is they have these fast boats they pull up alongside these shipping boats and they scale a latter it could be almost 40 feet up and then they navigate that vessel into port,” said McNamee.

According to McNamee, the majority of cargo traffic comes up the East Passage, underneath the Newport Bridge before going to Quonset or the Port of Providence.

“Anyone who uses the Newport Bridge and looks down and see those container ships steaming through that relatively small face has got to have the same stomach moment of well golly, what’s preventing that vessel from striking a pier if they should lose power or lose steering? So it is a concern,” said John Fulweiler, a maritime lawyer based out of Newport.

McNamee said preventative measures fall on the commission to monitor these pilots’ training from beginning to end, and make sure they’re meeting the necessary requirements to perform.

“Making sure they’re keeping current on their training and the other thing we do is we review these type of incidents,” explained McNamee.

The commission reviews all incidents that happen in Rhode Island waters to make sure systems currently in place are robust, and if they’re not, to try to improve them.

He also said they look at large scale incidents across the nation, adding the bridge collapse in Baltimore is already on their next agenda for April 4.

“We get the reports that are generated from those incidents, we review them and then we look at those incidents in the context of regulations and rules that we have and then we talk to the pilots and the company about their policies and how they’re managing their business, so all of that is done with an eye toward safety and making sure [of] safe operations of these really large vessels when they’re in Rhode Island waters,” McNamee explained further.

ABC 6 News reached out to the private company that these pilots work under, the Northeast Marine Pilots Association, and it declined to comment.