Great Lakes pilotage rates would rise by 7 percent in 2025 under a proposed rule filed by the U.S. Coast Guard, which also comes with a 4.75 percent average pay raise for American pilots.
Pilots’ pay under the plan would increase by nearly $21,000 to $461,611 a year. The proposal also would increase the overall cost of Great Lakes pilotage services within U.S. waters by $2.64 million compared to 2024.
Pilotage rates contemplated under the proposal would range from $438 to $981 per pilot hour, “depending on which of the specific six areas pilotage service is provided,” according to the notice in the Federal Register. Rates are highest in designated sections of the St. Lawrence and St. Marys rivers, and lowest in undesignated parts of Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior.
So-called designated areas are where pilots “direct the navigation of vessels at all times.” Undesignated areas, where pilotage rates are lower, are generally considered open water.
Rates are set by the U.S. Coast Guard using a 10-step methodology that considers, among other things, “necessary and reasonable” operating expenses, annual ship transits, and revenues necessary for each of the three pilot associations working the Great Lakes system.
That methodology is used to determine hourly rates, which translate into costs paid by U.S.- and foreign-flagged oceangoing ships known as “salties” that call on Great Lakes ports. The Great Lakes freighters known as “lakers” typically do not require pilotage services.
As proposed, there would be 64 pilots on the Great Lakes next year, the same as 2024. That figure includes 61 fully registered pilots and three apprentices across the three pilotage associations.