The Joint Pennsylvania and Delaware Apprentice Pilot Training Program is a rigorous, multi-year apprenticeship designed to train maritime pilots for navigating commercial vessels on the Delaware River, Bay, and its tributaries. Apprentices must complete five hundred or more trips over several years, pass exams, and receive licensure from the Navigation Commission. Currently, Class Six pilots are only allowed to pilot a vessel with a maximum draft of twenty-seven feet; yet the pilots have five hundred to eight-hundred trips under a licensed supervisor for a similar or larger size vessel. With the deepening of the Delaware River in 2021, the limit for a maximum draft of twenty-seven is too restrictive and provides unnecessary burdens for river pilots.
 
For this reason, I will be introducing legislation that will change the maximum draft from twenty-seven feet to twenty-nine feet. This will enable the safe pilotage of deeper-draft vessels and align pilotage standards with modern shipping practices.
 
Please join me in co-sponsoring this important legislation that supports the essential services that the river pilots provide.