Protecting the safety of passengers, mariners, cargo and the environment in Puget Sound waters is a primary focus of the Puget Sound Pilots.

More than 8,000 times a year, members of Puget Sound Pilots board cargo vessels, cruise ships, and oil tankers moving in and out of Puget Sound ports to ensure that those vessels safely navigate our waters.

The area covered by Puget Sound Pilots includes all waters east of Port Angeles and south of the Canadian border. These waterways are home to more than a dozen major ports, including container ports in Seattle and Tacoma, general cargo ports in Everett, Bellingham, Port Angeles and Olympia, and oil refinery berths near Anacortes, Ferndale and Cherry Point. There are 194 docks in the Puget Sound district.

Working with the captain on the ship's navigating bridge, the pilot directs vessels into and out of harbors, estuaries, straits, sounds, rivers, lakes and bays, utilizing specialized knowledge of local weather, tides, and currents and the handling characteristics of the very large ships that call here.

The pilot gives course and speed changes to the ship's crew, communicates with marine traffic and the Coast Guard and navigates the ship to avoid conflicting marine traffic, reefs, shoals and other hazards. The pilot also directs tug boats that help maneuver the ship through narrow waterways and bridges and assist with docking and undocking. As part of this effort, the pilot utilizes the ship's bridge equipment, including computer enhanced radar, electronic chart display, global positioning system readouts, speed log, gyrocompass, and other navigational instruments.

All of these duties are carried out 24 hours a day, in all weather conditions, 365 days a year. Over the last 20 years, members of Puget Sound Pilots have compiled an extraordinary safety record, completing more than 165,000 piloting assignments without a major incident.