Finnpilot invests in safety work and the digitalisation of navigation
Finnpilot says its cost-efficient operational model and the positive development in the number of pilotage assignments made it possible to retain the same pilotage prices during 2018. Numerous safety and digitalisation projects were implemented during the year. Customer and stakeholder satisfaction with the pilotage services remained at an excellent level.
The calculated market share of piloted traffic, for all vessels visiting Finland’s coastal harbours, was 35.1% (2017: 32.5%). During 2018, Finnpilot handled a total of 25,616 pilot assignments covering 484,959 piloted nautical miles. In comparison to the previous year, the number of pilotage assignments increased by 5.6% and piloted nautical mileage by 5.5%. A total of 99.9% of all pilotage requests were fulfilled within the limits of the waiting times specified by service level objectives.
According to the customer and stakeholder survey, satisfaction with the pilotage services has remained at a high level. On a scale of 1–7 in the survey, Finnpilot’s operations received an overall rating of 5.9. In addition, the mPilot application enabled for the collection of direct customer feedback from the shipmasters of piloted vessels. On a scale of 1–7 in this application, the service of the pilot and the company’s activities received a rating of 6.8.
As a result of the increased number of pilotage assignments and the cost-efficiency of its activities, Finnpilot Pilotage Ltd’s managed to achieve its best financial result since it became a limited liability company. Pilotage prices remained at the same level as the previous year. The turnover for this financial period was 40.3 million euro (2017: 38.1 million euro). The operating profit for the entire year was 3.6 million euro (2.6 million euro) and the net profit of the financial year was 3.0 million euro (2.2 million euro).
Finnpilot’s tax footprint was a total of 13.2 million euro in 2018. At the end of 2018, the company had a personnel of 340 employees (2017: 330) and the personnel’s average full-time equivalent was 324 (2017: 315). The average age of the personnel is 51 years.
Pilotage increases the efficiency and safety of maritime traffic along the challenging fairways of Finland’s coastline. The use of a pilot prevents exceptional situations that might, at worst, lead to serious accidents. During 2018, Finnpilot established a Safety group to process and manage all anomaly and safety observations.
Following the pilot boat accident near Emäsalo in December 2017, all fast boats were fitted with emergency exits. During 2019, such exits will also be added to pilot cutters that are used in icy conditions. Our risk assessments, work guidelines and safety training for personnel were also developed. Finnpilot ordered the first self-righting pilot boat at the end of 2018. Finnpilot shares all information it gathers concerning the accident with other operators in the field for the purpose of increasing safety across the board.
Finnpilot plays a strong role in developing the future of navigation and fairway manoeuvring as part of a broader ecosystem. An increasing amount of data will be collected from our activities and will be utilised to further the development of pilotage and other aspects of our activities. In accordance with its strategy, Finnpilot has continued the intense development of the ePilotage service concept. As part of the development of ePilotage, Finnpilot aims to implement the testing phase of remote pilotage during 2020.
