Harbour Master
The principal and fundamental role of a Harbour Master is:
To manage safely the movement of shipping within his or her area of jurisdiction.
The role will vary dependent upon the size of the harbour and the type of ships using it, but will typically include the management of:
- People, including vessel traffic services operators, port operators and associated staff
- Safe, secure, efficient and environmentally sound port operations
- Finances and marine assets
- The provision of pilotage
- The leisure use of the harbour
Worldwide there are approximately 3,000 merchant ports and the work of the Harbour Master can vary widely from country to country and from port to port even within the same country.
Latest News & Events
ABB signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hydrogène de France to jointly manufacture megawatt-scale fuel cell systems capable of powering ocean-going vessels
The MOU between ABB and hydrogen technologies specialist Hydrogène de France (HDF) envisages close collaboration on the assembly and production of the fuel cell power plant for marine applications. This was reported by ABB on 8 April.
Building on an existing collaboration announced on 27 June 2018 with Ballard Power Systems, the leading global provider of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell solutions, ABB and HDF intend to optimize fuel cell manufacturing capabilities to produce a megawatt-scale power plant for marine vessels. The new system will be based on the megawatt-scale fuel cell power plant jointly developed by ABB and Ballard and will be manufactured at HDF’s new facility in Bordeaux, France.
On 1 April from Geneva the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that it was concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quantity and quality of weather observations and forecasts, as well as atmospheric and climate monitoring.
WMO’s Global Observing System serves as a backbone for all weather and climate services and products provided by the 193 WMO Member states and territories to their citizens. It provides observations on the state of the atmosphere and ocean surface from land-, marine- and space-based instruments. This data is used for the preparation of weather analyses, forecasts, advisories and warnings.
In the words of WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas: ‘National Meteorological and Hydrological Services continue to perform their essential 24/7 functions despite the severe challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic,” said. “We salute their dedication to protecting lives and property but we are mindful of the increasing constraints on capacity and resources.
‘The impacts of climate change and growing amount of weather-related disasters continue. The COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional challenge, and may exacerbate multi-hazard risks at a single country level. Therefore it is essential that governments pay attention to their national early warning and weather observing capacities despite the COVID-19 crisis.’
