Unified TX Stakeholders Look to Force Second Look at Pilot Boards Failure to Implement Agreed Tariff

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association object and seek judicial review, as the port of Texas City and the West Gulf Maritime Association also object to the Pilot Commission's failure to implement the agreed tariff that eliminated the second pilot.

Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises Line and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association has filed an objection to the proposed GalTex Pilotage increases and requested that further proceedings be abated until resolution of their Petition of Judicial Review has been resolved. They were joined this week in that effort by the Port of Texas City and the West Gulf Maritime Association (WGMA). Both of those organizations have also filed objections to the rate increase application filed by GalTex Pilots.

Previously – and in a surprisingly quick turnaround from the August 24th withdrawal of another rate increase that also took local stakeholders by surprise – the Galveston-Texas City Pilots filed a new request for a rate increase with the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Ports of Galveston County.

In the latest rate request, dated 11 September 2009, GALTEX pilot chief Captain Chris Gutierrez insisted, “The Galveston County Pilots will show good and sufficient cause exists to support the requested application.” This week’s unified front by local stakeholders affected by pilot rates in this Gulf Coast port served notice, however, that the matter was anything but settled.

The new request came less than one month after the pilots withdrew their previous application after last summer’s acrimonious and lengthy meetings with stakeholders and the Pilot commissioners. The talks initially appeared to yield a rate increase – although not the one pilots or industry was hoping for – eventually proved fruitless when the pilots abruptly withdrew their request with little notice or explanation.

If approved, the latest rate increase request would become effective on October 17th, 2009. Industry stakeholders provided MarEx with preliminary analysis of the pending rate request. That information suggested that while draft unit charges would not change at all, the differences in certain “accessorial charges” would be significant.

The latest move – representing at least four separate motions by various stakeholders – promises still more heartburn for the board of Pilot commissioners for Galveston County. If successful in their efforts, stakeholders will have succeeded in freezing pilot rates at current levels while almost guaranteeing that the painful process will resume and continue well into the fourth quarter of this year. Of particular note in the contentious process – although certainly not the only matter for discussion – was the previous agreement whereby the second pilot requirement for all cruise ships calling in Galveston would be eliminated. That agreement apparently evaporated when the pilots withdrew their original petition.