One of the more interesting aspects of a marine pilot’s role is meeting and working closely with Captains from all around the world.
Captain Jeremy Parkin recently piloted the Panamax bulk carrier ‘Kypros Sea’ from the Kwinana Grain Jetty. The vessel was loaded with over 60,000 tonnes of Canola for discharge in Ghent, Belgium. Due to their deep draft (usually over 11.0 meters), Fremantle Pilots are required by Fremantle Ports regulations to pilot loaded grain vessels to the Outer Pilot Boarding Ground, which is located north of Rottnest Island. This passage takes up to 3 hours at 11 knots.
The Kwinana Grain Terminal is the largest in Western Australia and at the time of its opening in 1977, was the largest grain export terminal in the world. In an average year, the terminal ships more than half of the state’s total grain production. In the 2020 season it exported an equal record 6.2 million tonnes of grain to key grain markets in Asia, Europe, Central America and the Middle East. The Kwinana Grain Terminal is a critical piece of infrastructure for the Western Australian economy.
The Kypros Sea’s Master, Captain J Garcia has been a mariner for 30 years and lives in Mindanao, Phillipines. He has three children, non of whom has followed in his footsteps as a seafarer. However, he is incredibly proud of their achievements with one a doctor, another a civil engineer and with his youngest still at school.
Whilst Capt Garcia has enjoyed his time at sea immensely, he finds the worst part of it is being away from his family and the never ending inspections and paperwork that comes with being a modern ship’s captain. Technology has helped with keeping lines of communication open with his family during his long contracts at sea.
Captain Garcia has always worked on bulk carriers and has no intention of changing as other cargoes are not as easy to deal with and are too noisy!
Welcome to Fremantle Captain Garcia!
