New policy limits cell phone use while navigating vessels in Maryland

BALTIMORE — The Board of Pilots of the Maryland Division of Labor has unanimously authorized a coverage change that limits a navigator’s use of mobile units whereas working a vessel in Maryland. 

The board outlined the coverage in a press release it shared with WJZ.

“The Board of Pilots of the Maryland Division of Labor (‘the Board’) is conscious of the potential dangers related to the inappropriate use of mobile telephones and different units (‘mobile units’) within the marine setting and subsequently declares the next coverage relating to the non-operational use of mobile units by licensed pilots whereas offering pilotage to vessels underway on the navigable waters of the State of Maryland,” the assertion stated.

Navigators can be required to solely “talk by mobile phone, textual content, or e mail” for functions involving navigational, operational, maritime security, and nationwide safety.

The coverage stipulates that navigators should preserve all mobile communication to a minimal, each in amount and length whereas steering a ship by Maryland’s waters.

Moreover, anybody who’s steering a vessel in Maryland should “keep away from all different doable distractions whereas having the conn of a vessel.”

The announcement comes after the Ever Ahead, a 1,095-foot container ship headed from the Port of Baltimore to Norfolk, Virginia, ran aground in March.

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Maryland Division of the Atmosphere needed to work collectively to refloat the ship and free it from the Chesapeake Bay.