Pilot Brotherhood Weser II / Jade

The Pilot Brotherhood Weser II / Jade carries out all pilotage operations from the German Bight to Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven , as well as in the port of Wilhelmshaven. This makes it the largest pilot association in Germany in its field of activity. You board the SWATH pilot station ship “Weser” via the SWATH tender “Wangeroog” or the ORC workboat “Geeste” or “Hunte”. The pilot transfer vessels “Visurgis” (ORC 190.4) and “Weserlotse” are available in Bremerhaven. The helicopter (H-145) is used as a transfer device for missions in the German Bight . The continuously manned main watch station of the pilot brotherhood, with the seat of the administration at the same time, is located in the pilot house in Bremerhaven. Another guard station, which is only manned during the day, is operated in Wilhelmshaven.

Organization of the pilotage

As a corporation under public law, the Pilot Brotherhood performs sovereign tasks on behalf of the federal government. The pilots are therefore part of the “German Coast Safety Concept” and, with their advice to the ship's command, make a significant contribution to the safety of the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site. All seven pilot brotherhoods in Germany are represented in the Federal Chamber of Pilots by their senior men as part of their self-administration. The legal form, structure and tasks are regulated in the Maritime Pilot Act of 1954. The maritime pilots of the Lotsenbrüderschaft Weser II / Jade do their work on a 24/7 basis as self-employed, independent, expert and local advisors to the captains.

Pilot houses of the brotherhood

New pilot house in Bremerhaven

The river pilot house, which was built in 1913 and damaged by air raids in World War II , was acquired by the Federal Republic of Germany in 1980 to turn it into a station where both the Weser pilot brotherhoods were based. The original plan to station both pilot brotherhoods together in this building in Bremerhaven was abandoned because the damage to the building prevented such further use.

According to the decision of the Federal Republic of Germany to build a jointly used pilot house, a new building was built at the same location between 2005 and 2007. Since then, the Pilot Brotherhood Weser I and the Pilot Brotherhood Weser II / Jade have been stationed jointly in the building at Bremerhaven's Geestevorhafen .

The guard station in Wilhelmshaven, located at the former second entrance, has been in operation since June 18, 1975.

History of the Lotsenbrüderschaft Weser II / Jade

The history of the pilotage on the Jade and the Weser goes back to the first half of the 17th century and was shaped for a long time by the contrast between the three neighboring countries Prussia, Bremen and Oldenburg. At that time the ships were smaller and the navigation options were exclusively manual, but the importance of the pilot's work has not changed since then. In 1803 a new pilot ordinance was added through additions. There was now the Feddewarder and Blexer Lotsgesellschaft under the supervision of a senior pilot. The Fedderwarder pilots received the privilege for the jade. The pilot's leader was the pilot's commander.

In 1832 the port in Bremerhaven opened and the "Hanseatic City of Bremische Seelotsengesellschaft" was founded. Blexer Lotsen was prohibited from manning ships in Bremerhaven or Geestendorf and guiding them to sea. That meant the ruin of the Blexer Society, which was then dissolved in 1836. By 1870 the silting up of the Fedderwarder fairway had progressed so far that this location was also becoming increasingly unfavorable. This company moved to Blexen in 1878. The port of Geestemünde was opened in 1862, which led to even fiercer competition between Bremen and Oldenburg. Four Bremen-Prussian pilot savers faced two Oldenburg pilots.

At the suggestion of the German Nautical Association, the states of Bremen, Prussia and Oldenburg formed a commission with the task of reorganizing the cooperation between the three pilot companies, in particular the provision of a sea station. On September 26th, 1903, the three countries agreed to establish a joint venture between their pilot companies and joint operation of the station. After the end of the First World War , the peace pilotage service was resumed in 1919. The steel pilot schooners "Prinz Adalbert" and "Duchess Ingeborg" took over the station service. According to the Weimar Constitution, the shipping and waterway administrations of the states were taken over by the German Reich. The Reich Ministry of Transport was set up for this task. This department also took over the supervision of the German sea pilotage. She recommended the union of the three pilot companies, which was then carried out on November 1, 1922.

After the Second World War , the military government took the place of the Reich government. Bremen and Bremerhaven became American enclaves within the British occupation zone. The pilot brotherhood still consisted of 36 colleagues, 5 pilots had died. On October 13, 1954, the Federal Law on Sea Pilotage regulated the following uniformly:

The brotherhoods are named after their pilotage areas, the self-government carried out in 1942 is expanded and carried out in full. The elderly man is the legal representative of the brotherhood. Federal piloting equipment such as the pilot ships and the pilot station are also handed over to the pilots for operation and maintenance. Operating costs are reimbursed by the shipping administration from the pilotage fee. In 1958, the former Lotsenbrüderschaft Weser II was given the task of piloting on the Jade, where shipping traffic had declined considerably since the end of the war and the naval pilots responsible until then no longer existed. In the course of the transfer, the Lotsenbrüderschaft was renamed the Lotsenbrüderschaft Weser II / Jade. With the merging of the responsibilities for the service on Jade and Weser, the then Federal Transport Minister Hans-Christoph Seebohm enabled the irregularly traveled sea area of the Jade to have an efficient piloting system.

The pilot brotherhood also fulfills other tasks that have been assigned to it by law: regulation of the sequence of duties (so-called "Bört"), receipt and distribution of pilot money, social security as well as the training and further education of its members.

Web links

literature

Günther Spelde: The history of the pilot brotherhood on Aussenweser and on the Jade . 3rd edition, HM Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1996.