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Harbor Pilots Have Nautical Know-How

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2009

Updated: 01/17/2009 01:11 am

If you think it's difficult to navigate a large truck into a tight parking space, imagine trying to dock a cruise ship bigger than a downtown Tampa skyscraper. That's the daily challenge faced by Tampa's harbor pilots, who guide commercial and cargo ships in and out of the port.

Recently, the pilots made headlines as they sought rate increases for doing the daunting work of escorting vessels loaded with people or hazardous cargo through a challenging channel. The 3 percent boost, which went into effect Jan. 1, goes toward a revenue pool that includes the pilots' pay and fuel for their boarding boats.

We take a look at what harbor pilots do and what makes them so important to Tampa.

Sources: Tribune files, Florida Shipper, www.iseek.org, www.tampaport.com

Keyword: Harbor Pilots, to see more about the work of harbor pilots.

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