Elbe Pilot Brotherhood

Elbe Pilot Brotherhood
legal form	Public corporation
Seat	Hamburg and Brunsbüttel
founding	1957
Board	Ben Lodemann, senior man; Rainer Petrick, 2nd senior man ; Ingo Rieger, 3rd senior man
Members	around 280
Website	www.elbe-pilot.de

The pilot house on Hamburg's Elbchaussee

The Elbe Pilot Brotherhood , based on Elbchaussee in Hamburg-Nienstedten near Teufelsbrück, is the largest and at the same time one of the oldest pilot brotherhoods in the world. The Elbe Pilots Brotherhood carries out all pilots in the area between the German Bight and Teufelsbrück as well as in the ports of Cuxhaven, Brunsbüttel and Stade. The Elbe pilots are independent, knowledgeable and local advisors to the captains on their voyage on the Elbe.

Pilot service

Station ship Elbe and pilot tender Groden

Pilot transfer boat Elbe 4

Depending on the size of the ship, the Elbe pilots guide ships in the German Bight up the Elbe from buoy E1 or from the line buoy E3 / key buoy . For the entry into the Port of Hamburg, the Elbe pilots hand over the ships to the Hamburg port pilots at the level of their pilot station at Hamburg-Teufelsbrück . Ships departing from the port of Hamburg are taken over by the Elbe pilots at Teufelsbrück from the port pilots and accompany them to the German Bight or the Kiel Canal, depending on the destination port . When sailing in the Kiel Canal, the Elbe pilots hand the ships over to the pilots of the Kiel Canal I pilots in the roadstead in front of Brunsbüttel . Ships coming from the Kiel Canal are piloted by the Elbe pilots from the lock in Brunsbüttel. The pilot brotherhood maintains three pilot stations in Hamburg, Brunsbüttel and Cuxhaven as well as a sea station on board the station ship Elbe at the light buoy of the same name. All stations are manned around the clock.

Upon request, the Elbe pilots will manned the ships destined for Hamburg in the last port of departure. Then they do not carry out any overseas piloting, but advise the captain on the approach to Hamburg. In this way, for example, in bad weather, possible waiting times in the German Bight due to the cessation of the transfer operation can be avoided and the ships can come up immediately.

The Elbe Pilot Brotherhood has around 280 pilots. All Elbe pilots are experienced nautical experts with the highest nautical certificate (formerly: patent for the big voyage). In addition, they have completed special training for the piloting profession and have special knowledge of their piloting area. Elbe pilots are not employees of the federal government or the states, but not commercially active freelancers who form a pilot brotherhood in accordance with the Maritime Pilot Act. As a corporation under public law , the Pilot Brotherhood performs sovereign tasks on behalf of the federal government. This means that the Elbe pilots are part of the "German Coast Safety Concept". By advising the masters on a public mission, the Elbe pilots make a significant contribution to safety on the Elbe.

In addition to the Elbe pilots, there are six other sea pilot brotherhoods and two harbor pilots brotherhoods in Germany. The common interest group is the Federal Chamber of Pilots , in which the brotherhoods are represented by their elders .

history

There were pilots on the Lower Elbe as early as the 13th century. The first pilots were fishermen from Helgoland and Neuwerk , who were well acquainted with the current conditions in the Elbe and its estuary and were thus able to guide ships safely through the dangerous Lower Elbe. In 1656, Hamburg issued its own pilotage regulations that regulated the pilotage on the Elbe. It stipulated that all pilots had to be certified and sworn in by the Hamburg Admiralty. The pilotage regulations also stipulated that two pilot boats always had to be ready on the Outer Elbe.

From the 18th century onwards, the independent pilots in Hamburg came together to form associations in order to standardize piloting operations and to establish fixed sequences (Bört) for their piloting. Wild piloting has been expressly prohibited in Hamburg since 1756.

In 1900 the Cuxhaven Pilots founded the Cuxhaven Pilots Association. In 1942 this resulted in the Cuxhaven Pilot Brotherhood. In the same year, the Hamburg pilot association was also constituted. In 1957 the Hamburg and Cuxhaven Pilots Brotherhood merged to form the Elbe Pilots Brotherhood in its current form. In 1999 this merged with the Cuxhaven port pilots to form what is now the Elbe Pilots' Association. Since then, all piloting in the port of Cuxhaven has been operated by the Elbe pilots.

The Hamburg Lotsenchor was founded in 1996. Both members of the Elbe Pilots 'Association and the Hamburg Harbor Pilots' Association are members of the choir ensemble.