Audible response

Consultation on bridge regulations

The collision of the railway bridge over the Limfjord in March 2011 resulted in increased pilotage requirements. The authorities have now investigated the incident thoroughly, and a major cause was the communication, or lack thereof, between ship and bridge. This must be taken into account when issuing new bridge regulations. Danish Ports has had a draft for consultation. Danske Havne assumes that the prerequisites for relaxing the temporary pilotage obligation are therefore present, so that once the regulations have entered into force, the pilotage obligation will be returned to the original requirement. This means that in the future, compulsory pilotage will only apply to ships over 80 meters and not, as now, to ships over 53 meters. Danske Havne assumes that the Danish Maritime Authority will take this into account when issuing the bridge regulations. See the consultation response here.