Pilots

Pilots are navigational offices who know the pilotage area well and can advise the ship’s officers sailing into estuaries or ports. Elbe pilots take the ships in about as far as “Teufelsbrück,” and the harbour pilots take over from there.

Despite GPS and electronic nautical charts, the knowledge and experience of pilots is irreplaceable. Harbour pilots know the area; they are familiar with the currents and shallows. That is why they are able to make the right decisions immediately in order to manoeuvre a ship into its berth, even in a cramped port basin.

Ships with a length of 90 metres or more or a beam of 13 metres or more are required to engage a pilot. A second pilot comes aboard for certain sizes of ships and particularly difficult manoeuvres.

Fishermen offered help in navigating the Elbe even as far back as the 14th century. Beginning in 1858, harbour pilots were employees of the city of Hamburg. In 1981, they founded the Harbour Pilots’ Association and since then have been organising their work themselves as freelancers.

The pilots’ station is located across from Teufelsbrück. The chief on duty assigns pilots according to the so-called “Börtordnung,” which regulates the order in which pilots are assigned to ships night and day.

A pilot boat pulls up alongside the starboard side of a ship while it is under way into the harbour. The pilot climbs aboard using a Jacob’s ladder or through a hatch in the side of the ship.