AP article about training of river pilots was inaccurate

I am forwarding you the e-mail below in response to the inaccurate Associated Press article published July 9 on the front page of the Southeast Missourian. I am the port captain for Luhr Bros. Inc. and I also hold a master's license for the western rivers. Luhr Bros. is a heavy marine construction company that runs river boats on the inland waterways. We have about 200 employees who work on river boats out of our Cape Girardeau office.

I am an avid reader of your paper every day and am terribly disappointed that you published such an article without researching the facts. I hope this e-mail from the AWO will help you understand the truth. I have had several people in town who have talked to me about the negative article you put in the paper about the river industry. If not for the river, Cape Girardeau would not be a town today.

I sincerely hope you print the letter from Anne Burns so the good people of Cape Girardeau will understand the positive aspects of the river industry and especially the training of our new pilot-training program.

STEVE GLENN, Port Captain, Luhr Bros. Inc., Cape Girardeau

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The following letters was sent to the Associated Press bureau in New Orleans:

The inaccuracies of Cain Burdeau's July 9 story, "Tugboat pilot plan may have backfired," did a great injustice to the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, an industry that is the safest, most environmentally friendly mode of cargo transportation in the nation, according to a recent study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute for the Department of Transportation.

The members of the American Waterways Operators, encompassing upward of 80 percent of the barge and towing industry, have a reputation as industry safety leaders and a long history of commitment to safety, security and environmental protection.

The fundamental premise of the article -- that the modernized licensing process put in place in 2001 makes it easier for inexperienced personnel to pilot tugboats or towboats -- is completely wrong. In fact, the new system requires more, not less, behind-the-wheel experience to gain a pilot's license, increasing by a full 25 percent the amount of service time required to become a towing vessel master.

The system also includes, for the first time, a hands-on demonstration of navigational proficiency -- a real-world driver's test to ensure that candidates have not only the theoretical knowledge but the practical skills to operate safely.

Mr. Burdeau's suggestion that the rules were developed to bring more pilots into the industry in response to a recent personnel shortage is simply wrong. In fact, the overhaul of the licensing system (a lengthy process that began in 1994) was aimed at establishing more rigorous qualification and training requirements as a way to reduce the likelihood of accidents based on human error.

The American Waterways Operators was an active participant in the Coast Guard rule-making process and would have been pleased to provide more information about it, had Mr. Burdeau raised this central issue with us before writing his story.

The article's assertion of a 25 percent increase in industry accidents makes good headlines but is also misleading, as Mr. Burdeau chose as his base year (2003) a year with unusually low recorded casualties by historical standards. Coast Guard data experts have speculated that this may have been the result of a reorganization in Coast Guard field units that resulted in less attention to minor casualties such as bump-and-go groundings that result in no injury or property damage.

In fact, Coast Guard statistics show that the industry's safety record has consistently improved over the past decade, with record low fatalities, oil spills, and serious accidents in recent years.

It is counterintuitive to suggest that companies would put lives, the environment and multimillion-dollar cargo and equipment at risk by placing inexperienced pilots at the helm, not to mention undertaking the risk of liability and potential loss of the company itself in the wake of a serious accident or spill. Any company that operates in the manner that Mr. Burdeau's article describes -- with new pilots unsupervised and safety practice requirements ignored -- is breaking the law and should be prosecuted. It is irresponsible for Mr. Burdeau to have suggested by his article that the illegal practices of a few rogue operators describe the entire industry.

The inspection program that Mr. Burdeau referenced at the end of the article is an initiative that AWO strongly supports and has worked with the Coast Guard to develop. The Operation Big Tow effort by the Coast Guard "to crack down on tugs that break the rules" found that 99.8 percent of towing vessel operators were properly licensed.

Had Mr. Burdeau done his due diligence, he could not have painted his picture with such a broad brush. We would appreciate the Associated Press correcting the record with all the AP outlets across the country that have published this story as an accurate reflection of the truth.

ANNE DAVID BURNS, Vice President-Public Affairs and Communication, American Waterways Operators, Arlington, Va.