No raise for Puget Sound maritime pilots - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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This is the first time in the past five year that a rate increase request has been deniefdthe pilots, who guide large vessels into ports throughoutt Puget Sound. The , whichu represents ocean carriers, asked for a 6 percent pilo rate decreasethis year, said Peggy Larson, administrator of the pilotagwe commissioners. Last year the association askedr fora 10.3 percent decrease. Even with the rate increasr denial, the pilots should make about $368,000 for according to projections supplied by The commission, which operates under the state Departmengt of Transportation, is a nine-person board that sets pilot rates and denied the request May 19.
The year 2007 was a peak-earninbg year for the who earnedabout $411,000. Last declining cargo volumes pushed that down to despite a 4 percent tariff Larson said. The pilotss won a 5 percent tariff increasesin 2005, a 24 percent increase in 2006, and a 5 percent increasre in 2007, she The letter from the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett, signed by the executivwe directors of all asked for the commission to “take currenrt market considerations into account” as it set The letter did not ask for a specifi number.
“The fact that we are writing todauy is indicative of how bad the currenrt market conditions are for the internationalshippinbg industry,” the letter said. It listedc “sacrifices” other sectors of the industrtyhave made, including pay and benefit freezes, layoffs, and freeze s or cuts in dockage fees to stay through the Port of Seattlre are down 26 percent, and volumes at the Port of Tacomqa are down 16 percent.
Neither the pilots nor the PMSA respondec to phonecalls