Australian Reef Pilots News

According to the Australian Reef Pilots (ARP), Australia is now the fourth biggest cruise market in the world. Part of the boom in cruising has to do with more specialty cruise ships coming to the region. The smaller size cruise ship segment seems purpose-designed to transit the remote waters of the Kimberley coast. However, larger-vessel cruise companies are now expressing interest in touring this remote and rugged north-west region as well as the Great Barrier Reef. In fact, the number of cruise ships using ARP’s services has increased by more than 89 percent since 2010.

Family, friends and colleagues of Capt. John Foley, Master Mariner and Great Barrier Reef “Grand Pilot” gathered together at St. Augustine’s Church, Hamilton, Brisbane on June 26, 2015 to farewell John and commemorate his life. For a man who achieved so much in his lifetime, Captain John Foley was remarkable for one thing above all - his modesty. Well spoken, polite and scholarly, Captain Foley was a fountain of knowledge on his favorite place, Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, his ‘office’ being one of the most challenging sea passages on earth.

Australian marine pilotage company Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) has been bought by a consortium of its employees. ARP, which services shipping through the Great Barrier Reef, has been sold by the private Brisbane-based company Torres Industries to a group of ARP executives and reef pilots, making for a very ‘hands on’ team. ARP CEO Simon Meyjes has led the buyout and said it would be business as usual during the transition. “We know the business and our customers intimately and want to seize the opportunities we can see to grow and expand our services,” Meyjes said.

Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) popularly known as 'Guardians of the Reef' and the country's leading pilotage company has won a national accolade for its work to protect one of the planet’s most sensitive and treasured areas – the Great Barrier Reef. ARP picked up this year’s esteemed Australian Shipping and Maritime Industry Award (Safe Transport Category). Chief Executive Officer Simon Meyjes said the award recognised ARP’s unique world-class Safety Management System (SMS).“Our SMS gives access to real-time information on pilot schedules…

A leading maritime company has launched a push to prevent hundreds of dangerous, unseaworthy ships from being detained at Australian ports. Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) has started providing ship safety audits at overseas ports to assess whether foreign ships bound for Australia are up to standard. ARP General Manager Alan Maffina said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) aimed to randomly inspect about 80% of vessels calling at Australian ports and would not hesitate to delay any that were not up to scratch. “195 foreign ships were detained in the year to May,” Maffina said. “Most were held for a few days but several were tied up for more than a week and one was kept idle for 47 days while its faults were fixed.

Pilotage service providers, Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) has embraced world-first brainwave technology in what they say is the pursuit of an ultimate objective of best practice maritime safety standards. ARP is trialling the Australian-developed SmartCap system, a unique piece of headwear which monitors brain activity to indicate fatigue levels. ARP CEO Simon Meyjes said SmartCap was another tool in the company’s array of sophisticated technological innovations to enhance ship, crew and environmental safety.

Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) and its technology suppliers have won an international award for technology which improves safety and efficiency for shipping on the Great Barrier Reef. In a combined submission with VoyageBank and SevenCs, ARP was awarded the IHS Safety at Sea 2013 Award (Systems Category) for the unique VoyageBank pilot system. The custom navigation program combines tablets, cloud computing, electronic charting and an onshore safety management system to better protect one of the planet’s most sensitive and challenging maritime areas.

The German marine software company SevenCs has partnered with Australian software company VoyageBank to deliver state of the art Portable Pilot Unit (PPU) technology to 50 marine pilots charged with responsibility for keeping the Great Barrier Reef free of shipping disasters. The three year deal, signed recently with Australian Reef Pilots (ARP), will bring high precision navigation, real-time monitoring, and centralised management of pilotage activities as part of the company’s Pilotage Safety Management System (PSMS).