Vol. 151, No. 10 — May 17, 2017

Registration

SOR/2017-83 May 5, 2017

PILOTAGE ACT

Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations

P.C. 2017-466 May 5, 2017

RESOLUTION

Whereas the Pacific Pilotage Authority, pursuant to subsection 34(1) (see footnote a) of the Pilotage Act (see footnote b), published a copy of the proposed Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations, in the annexed form, in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on February 18, 2017;

Therefore, the Pacific Pilotage Authority, pursuant to subsection 33(1) of the Pilotage Act (see footnote c), makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations.

Vancouver, March 23, 2017

Kevin Obermeyer
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific Pilotage Authority

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, pursuant to subsection 33(1) of the Pilotage Act (see footnote d), approves the annexed Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations, made by the Pacific Pilotage Authority.

Regulations Amending the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations

Amendments

1 (1) Paragraphs 6(2)(a) and (b) of the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations (see footnote 1) are replaced by the following:

• (a) $3.7342 multiplied by the pilotage unit, and
• (b) $0.01091 multiplied by the gross tonnage of the ship.

(2) Subsection 6(3) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) Subject to subsection (4), for an assignment to a tethered tanker ship with a deadweight tonnage (summer) that exceeds 39 999 metric tons, in any waters, the pilotage charge payable is $6.4193 multiplied by the pilotage unit.

(3) Paragraphs 6(4)(a) and (b) of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

• (a) $5.6015 multiplied by the pilotage unit, and
• (b) $0.0164 multiplied by the gross tonnage of the ship.

2 Section 8 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

8 Despite sections 6 and 7, the total charges payable under those sections in respect of a ship shall not be less than $994.63.

3 Subsections 10(2) and (3) of the Regulations are replaced by the following:

(2) If a pilot embarks on or disembarks from a ship at Anacortes, Bellingham, Cherry Point or Ferndale, in the State of Washington, a charge of $1,919.09 per pilot is payable in addition to any other charges.

(3) If a pilot embarks on or disembarks from a ship at an out-of-Region location that is not listed in subsection (2), a charge of $2,559.12 per pilot is payable in addition to any other charges.

4 Section 15 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

15 (1) On each occasion that a pilotage order is initiated during the period that begins at 06:00 and ends at 17:59 with less than 10 hours’ notice for local assignments and less than 12 hours’ notice for all other assignments, a charge of $859.22 is payable in addition to any other charges.

(2) On each occasion that a pilotage order is initiated during the period that begins at 18:00 and ends at 05:59 with less than 10 hours’ notice for local assignments and less than 12 hours’ notice for all other assignments, a charge of $1,718.43 is payable in addition to any other charges.

5 The portion of section 16 of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

16 A charge of $1,615.08 is payable in addition to any other charges on each occasion that

6 Section 17 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

17 On each occasion that a pilotage order is initiated for any place other than a pilot boarding station, a charge of $5,179.99 per pilot is payable in addition to any other charges.

Technology Charge

18 For each assignment to a ship set out in column 1 of Schedule 2, in waters set out in column 2, a technology charge of $20 is payable in addition to any other charges.

7 Schedule 2 to the Regulations is amended by replacing the reference after the heading “SCHEDULE 2” with the following:

(Sections 6 and 18)

8 The portion of items 1 to 3 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations in column 3 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 3 Amount ($)
1	4.2793
2	8.5586
3	4.2793

9 The portion of item 1 of Schedule 3 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Time Charge ($)
1	214.80

10 The portion of items 1 and 2 of Schedule 4 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Cancellation Charge ($)
1	859.22
2	214.80

11 The portion of items 1 to 3 of Schedule 5 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Charge ($) (per hour or part of an hour)
1	214.80
2	214.80
3	214.80

12 The portion of items 1 to 7 of Schedule 6 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Transportation Charges ($)
1	164.64
2	158.47
3	1,633.02
4	516.56
5	516.56
6	164.64
7	5,162.50

13 (1) The portion of items 1 to 4 of Schedule 7 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Charge ($)
1	416.23
2	1,665.99
3	2,161.40
4	6,514.16

(2) The portion of items 6 to 8 of Schedule 7 to the Regulations in column 2 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Charge ($)
6	838.88
7	582.08
8	986.54

14 The portion of items 1 to 18 of Schedule 8 to the Regulations in columns 2 to 5 is replaced by the following:

Item	Column 2 Brotchie Ledge Charge ($)	Column 3 Sand Heads Charge ($)	Column 4 Triple Islands Charge ($)	Column 5 Pine Island Charge ($)
1	72	145	495	495
2	80	165	562	562
3	90	184	629	629
4	98	204	696	696
5	107	223	762	762
6	115	243	829	829
7	125	262	896	896
8	133	282	963	963
9	142	301	1,030	1,030
10	150	321	1,097	1,097
11	159	341	1,164	1,164
12	168	360	1,231	1,231
13	177	380	1,298	1,298
14	185	399	1,364	1,364
15	194	419	1,431	1,431
16	203	438	1,498	1,498
17	212	458	1,565	1,565
18	220	477	1,632	1,632

Coming into Force

15 These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Executive summary

Background

The Authority is responsible for maintaining and administering, in the interests of safety, an efficient pilotage service within all Canadian waters in and around the province of British Columbia. This area covers all waters between Washington State in the south to Alaska in the north, including Vancouver Island and the Fraser River.

Issues

Due to increased costs in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 resulting from long-term contracts, collective agreements and general inflationary pressures, the Authority is seeking to match its anticipated cost pressures, thus preventing bank borrowings to fund these increasing operating costs, which would further result in interest charges and erode the financial position of the Administration.

Objectives

The objective of the amendments to the Regulations is to allow the Authority, a Crown corporation listed in Schedule III to the Financial Administration Act, to operate on a self-sustaining financial basis as required by section 33 of the Pilotage Act. The amendments are intended to ensure the Authority remains in a positive cash flow basis for 2017. The amendments will help to cover the costs of pilotage services to its clients while the Authority continues to provide a safe and efficient pilotage service in accordance with the Pilotage Act.

Description

The Authority is increasing its charges as follows:

• increase by 2.9% its general tariff for all charges (with the exception of the pilot boat and helicopter charge);
• increase by 7% its pilot boat and helicopter charge (with the exception of Pine Island, which will remain the same); and
• modify the Regulations to add section 18 (after Remote Port Charges) for the implementation of a $20 per assignment technology fee (replacing Portable Pilotage Units [PPUs]).

These increases will fund expense increases that have been incurred under labour and service agreements for the years 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The Authority has posted deficits through each of these years as a result of these increases in costs. In order to maintain its selfsufficiency mandate, the Authority requires the changes outlined above for 2017.

The Authority has extensively consulted with industry in order to ensure there is a complete understanding for the need to adjust the tariff as proposed and has, as a result, received support from both the Chamber of Shipping and the Shipping Federation of Canada for these amendments to the tariff.

Regulatory and non-regulatory options considered

The retention of the existing tariff rates was considered as a possible option. However, the Authority rejected this status quo alternative since the increase of tariff rates is necessary to reflect the actual costs for the various pilotage services provided to the industry. These amendments will ensure that the Authority maintains its financial self-sufficiency.

The Authority consulted extensively with industry in 2016. At these meetings, the Authority took the audience through its advanced marine forecasting tool and allowed the audience to make adjustments to and provide input into the model to see the effect of their input to the Authority’s financial position (i.e. how would a change to the number of new apprentice hires, to volume assumptions, to fees or to a specific launch station change the Authority’s ending cash position).

As a result, the Authority emerged with 18 separate options and scenarios in its determination of the best final tariff amendment for 2017. The Authority’s model allowed users to take the following adjustable components into consideration:

• Changes in assignment mixes for any of 16 different industries for the years 2017–2021;
• Changes in the unit fee;
• Changes in the hourly fee;
• Changes in the travel fee;
• Changes in the launch and helicopter fee for each of Brotchie, Triple Island, Prince Rupert Anchorages 8 and 9, Prince Rupert Anchorages 10 to 31, Sand Heads and Pine Island;
• Changes to the launch replacement fee;
• Changes in the short-term temporary surcharge (both the fee and the term of the fee);
• Changes in assumptions about the helicopter program (whether to stop the program or not, the costs therein, the percentages of assignments catered to, the possibility of a separate helicopter fee);
• Changes to the investment balance and the speed of replenishing the balance;
• Changes in the number of new apprentices hired;
• Changes in the rate of attrition of existing pilots; and
• Changes in assumptions on the likelihood of a crude oil and/or liquefied natural gas (LNG) project moving ahead.

Further material reductions in operating costs are not deemed to be an alternative since it could reduce the quality of service provided. Similar to prior years, approximately 90% of the Authority’s total annual expenditures are covered by either a service contract or collective agreements. The Authority has maintained its administrative expenses at the lowest possible level, in the range of 8% of annual revenues.

Benefits and costs

		Base Year: 2017	Final Year: 2026	Total (PV)	Annualized Average
A. Quantified impacts (in Can$, 2017 price level / constant dollars)
Benefits	By stakeholder	2,105,225	2,463,792	17,107,258	2,427,935
Costs	By stakeholder	(2,105,225)	(2,463,792)	(17,107,258)	(2,427,935)
Net benefits				—	—
B. Quantified impacts in non-$ (e.g. from a risk assessment)
Positive impacts	By stakeholder	—		—	—
Negative impacts	By stakeholder	—		—	—
C. Qualitative impacts
Short list of qualitative impacts (positive and negative) by stakeholder.
Shipping industry — Efficient and timely pilotage services in navigable waters with the jurisdiction of the Pacific Pilotage Authority.
Pacific Pilotage Authority — Sustainability of the Pacific Pilotage Authority.
Canadians — Safe shipping on the west coast of Canada. Sustainability of the Pacific Pilotage Authority will avoid layoffs and the associated consequences for unemployment.
Canadian importers and exporters — There is potential for the shipping industry to pass on the cost of the increased tariff to importers and exporters in the Pacific pilotage area. However, the increased costs represent an insignificant part of the industry’s total costs and the pass-through cost would be negligible.

The Authority is adjusting its tariff in 2017 by rates that only allow the Authority to continue to operate as a going concern. The Authority will therefore be reducing its investments in 2017 to below $500,000, determined to be just enough to pay for unanticipated engine failures. This way, the Authority has shown that it has released all available surpluses to industry in order to provide any and all financial support within this current weak economic climate.

The cost assumptions shown in the table below are based on the Authority’s corporate plan traffic level projections for 2017.

Incremental Impact on Annual Gross Revenues	2017 Registration date — April 1	2018
Pilotage assignment fees including pilotage unit, time charges, travel charges and other (but excluding the charges mentioned below)	2.90% $1,444,809	$1,801,013
Launch and helicopter charges	7.00% $415,702	$417,444
Technology charges	$20 per assignment $244,714	$245,335
Total impact on annual gross revenues in the year noted	$2,105,225	$2,463,792
Average cost increase per trip based on 2017 corporate plan traffic budget	$172	$201
Total trips per annum	12 236	12 267

The Authority is forecasting an increase in revenues for 2017 of $2,105,225 as a result of this tariff amendment. On an average invoice total of $6,192 per vessel, the 2017 increases will add $172 per trip.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to this proposal, as there is no change in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to this proposal.

Consultation

The Authority has committed to regular consultation with the Chamber of Shipping and the Shipping Federation of Canada, who represent the shipping community on the west coast of British Columbia, along with other shipping community members including the North West and Canada Cruise Association, agents, terminal operators and shipowners. This consultation covers all aspects of the Authority’s operation, including financial, operational and regulatory matters.

The Authority consulted extensively with industry in 2016, including holding meetings with all the associations mentioned above, as well as holding an open house for all association members. At these meetings, the Authority took the audience through its advanced marine forecasting tool and allowed the audience to make adjustments to and provide input into the model to see the effect of their input on the Authority’s financial position (i.e. how a change to the number of new apprentice hires, or a change to volume assumptions, or a change to fees or a specific launch station would change the Authority’s ending cash position).

The intention was to ensure that all users gained insight into the Authority’s financial position and plans for 2017 through 2021. As a result of this extensive consultation, the Authority received letters of support from both the Chamber of Shipping and the Shipping Federation of Canada for its 2017 tariff.

As required under section 34 of the Pilotage Act, these amendments were published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on February 18, 2017, followed by a 30-day comment period to provide interested persons with the opportunity to make comments or to file a notice of objection with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). No comments were received and no notices of objection were filed.

Rationale

The Authority has experienced increased costs since 2013 mainly due to a long-term service agreement with contract pilots and collective agreements covering employee pilots and launch employees. The benefit of these long-term contracts is the stability and certainty provided to industry. However, the fees that the Authority has levied on industry have not kept pace with these actual cost increases.

This was anticipated and driven by a Board-approved move by the Authority to levy lower tariff increases on industry in order to push the Authority into sustained cash losses until all available surpluses had been transferred from the Authority to industry without sacrificing the Authority’s position as a going concern. This has now run its course, and the Authority needs to bring its margins back into line.

Under the status quo, a further reduction in operating costs and the selling of assets are not feasible options, as they will result in reduced service levels to industry. Additionally, they will compromise the Authority’s financial self-sufficiency and/or its ability to provide safe and efficient pilotage services.

These increases for 2017 will be used exclusively to fund the expense increases that have been incurred already.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

Section 45 of the Act provides an enforcement mechanism for the Pacific Pilotage Tariff Regulations in that a pilotage authority can inform a customs officer at any port in Canada to withhold clearance from any ship for which pilotage charges are outstanding and unpaid. Section 48 of the Act stipulates that every person who fails to comply with Part I of the Act (other than section 15.3) and some of its regulations is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000. These existing mechanisms are expected to be sufficient for the implementation and enforcement of the amendments.

Contact

Stefan Woloszyn
Director
Finance and Administration
Pacific Pilotage Authority
1130 West Pender Street, Suite 1000
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6E 4A4
Telephone: 604-666-6988
Fax: 604-666-1647
Email: swoloszyn@ppa.gc.ca

• Footnote a
  S.C. 1998, c. 10, s. 150
• Footnote b
  R.S., c. P-14
• Footnote c
  R.S., c. P-14
• Footnote d
  R.S., c. P-14
• Footnote 1
  SOR/85-583