Sydney harbour is Australia’s busiest waterway. Every year, more than a thousand commercial vessels and cruise ships arrive, delivering essential goods and visitors, straight to the heart of the city. Bringing these giants of the sea safely into the harbour is the job of Sydney’s marine pilots.
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TVTranscript
00:00 We're heading out of Sydney Harbour with Marine Pilot Luke Nye.
00:07 We're on our way to meet an oil tanker called the Pantelis.
00:12 It's due into Sydney to make a delivery.
00:19 Two kilometres outside the heads we catch our first glimpse.
00:23 From this angle it's a monolith rising out of the waves and it's Luke's job to steer
00:29 it past the heads and through the busy harbour.
00:32 First though he's got to get on board.
00:34 Now this is one of the most dangerous jobs for pilots in the harbour.
00:41 It's getting on the ship but both vessels are not only moving, the pilot vessel and
00:45 the ship, but they're going up and down, rising and falling up to 5, 6, 7 metres every few
00:51 seconds.
00:57 Once safely on board we head straight to the bridge where Luke is already in command.
01:03 Steer 212.
01:05 Yes.
01:06 Luke knows the harbour like the back of his hand.
01:09 How deep it is at any given point and where a ship of this size can safely navigate.
01:15 My view of the harbour is one of, it's almost transparent, I'm looking at the dangers underneath.
01:20 I'm consciously aware of the traffic but I've got in my head where I want the ship to be
01:26 at all times.
01:27 When we think about the working harbour this is what it looks like.
01:31 Super sized commercial vessels using a dozen or so berths and anchorages around the harbour
01:37 as gateways to the city, carrying things like sand, sugar, salt, cement, oil, plus the odd
01:45 cruise passenger or two.
01:48 Coming into Sydney Harbour now we've just come around Bradley's Head, the whole city
01:50 scapes opened up.
01:51 This is where the captains on cruise ships will tell us that all their passengers want
01:55 to see two harbours in the world, New York and Sydney and that's the view that they want
01:59 to see.
02:00 Sydney Harbour is in Luke's DNA.
02:02 His great grandfather was a marine pilot.
02:04 Can you see your old family home from here?
02:07 Not yet but round the corner.
02:10 He grew up in Greenwich, overlooking the very tanker berth we're heading to today.
02:15 What does it mean to you to get to do this job every day when you've wanted this job
02:18 for so long since you were a little boy?
02:20 Better be a pilot in the port where you always wanted to do it.
02:23 I'm very fortunate, you know, and I don't lose sight of that any day.
02:27 Under the harbour bridge and our destination is in sight.
02:31 So we're coming up to the business end now where Luke is about to park the ship.
02:36 Is that what you call it?
02:38 I would say berthing but we'll go with the landlubber term if that suits you.
02:43 Midship.
02:44 Metre by metre Luke eases the tanker into position.
02:49 Dead slow astern.
02:51 There's no room for error.
02:53 It's such a volume of the products for this whole city coming through here.
02:58 Any damage to this, we're in all sorts.
03:00 50?
03:01 40.
03:02 40 ahead, thanks.
03:05 Finally the ship is exactly where he needs it to be.
03:08 In position.
03:09 In position.
03:10 In position, Captain.
03:11 Hold it there.
03:14 One very large tanker safely delivered.
03:18 Another happy landing.
03:20 So one job done.
03:21 Next.
03:22 Next cruise ship, something completely different.
03:25 All in a day's work for Sydney's marine pilots.
03:28 [Music]
03:30 [BLANK_AUDIO]