It's off to work we go

1. Pilot boat A.P.A. No.1 heads out.

2. The sail training vessel Roald Amundsen departs after a summer in Canada. She is bound for Ponta Delgada in the Azores.

3. Vietnam Express, outbound from Fairview Cove. The ship carries a Hapag-Lloyd name, but continues to wear OOCL colours. Her next port is Cagliari, Italy.

The pilot boat A.P.A. No.1 leaves the dock with the outbound Vietnam Express, and Roald Amundsen. Halifax's two pilot boats A.P.A. No.1 and A.P.A. No.18 are smart looking boats, always well kept, and ready for work. They take pilots out to meet incoming ships and remove pilots from outbound ships. It takes about 45 minutes to get from the pilot dock to the pilot boarding station off Chebucto Head, and another 45 minutes to get back to the dock.

Once pilots have disembarked from outbound ships they are often landed in Herring Cove so that they can get to the next assignment more quickly.

Dating from 1976 and 1974 respectively, the boats are due for replacement in the next few years with more modern craft. Atlantic Pilotage Authority (APA) operates pilotage services in numerous ports in all four Atlantic provinces, and has upgraded pilot boats in Saint John and Placentia Bay recently. See more on their web site at: http://www.atlanticpilotage.com/

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