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Marine Pilot's Licence - New South Wales

Description

You will need this licence if you intend to act as a pilot of a vessel in a pilotage port. A marine pilot is an experienced seafarer who assists masters of visiting commercial vessels in ports.

Pilotage is usually compulsory in pilotage ports, meaning that a vessel cannot enter, leave or move within the port without a designated marine pilot on board. Please note that you cannot act as the marine pilot of a vessel unless you have been authorised to do so by the relevant pilotage service provider for that port.

A pilotage port means any of the following ports:

  • Sydney Harbour
  • Botany Bay
  • Newcastle
  • Port Kembla
  • Yamba
  • Eden.

Service type

Licence

A licence defines the need to obtain recognition / certification and registration to undertake a certain business activity.

Eligibility requirements

To be eligible for this licence you must:

  • meet the health requirements set out in the marine pilotage code
  • hold a relevant qualification
  • provide evidence of your competence to carry out unsupervised duties as a marine pilot in the relevant pilotage port.

Relevant qualifications include either:

  • a certificate of competency under Australian Government legislation as a master for the gross tonnage of the vessel to be piloted
  • a certificate of recognition issued under Australian Government legislation for an international qualification equivalent to a certificate of competency
  • a marine pilot's licence from another Australian jurisdiction (other than a coastal pilot licence), and at least one year's experience piloting all vessels in the port specified in your application 
  • a demonstrated level of competency equivalent to any of the above qualifications.

Fees

Fees Details for this service in table format.

Task Type Business Structure Amount Description
Apply Application All $577.00

Fees for 2025-26
General Duplicate Certificate All $27.00

Fees for 2025-26
Renew Renewal All $289.00

Fees for 2025-26
Vary Variation All $14.00

Extend licence to add a new port. Fees for 2025-26

Forms

Other resources

Task Business Structure Resources
Comply All NSW Marine Pilotage Code - PDF (Opens in new window)

Act(s) name

Marine Safety Act 1998 New South Wales

Regulation(s) name

Marine Safety Regulation 2016 New South Wales

Administering agency

Transport for NSW

Roads and Maritime Services

NSW Maritime Division

Contact details

Contact Email, Phone and Address Details for this service in simple two column table format, header then data.