As a marine officer, Phillip Sweetman is completing his training to become a marine pilot; someone who safely guides vessels in and out of the harbour.
With 14 years of experience in the industry already, it will take another year of training to gain his unlimited licence, allowing him to pilot vessels of any size.
Prior to joining LPC, Phillip worked onboard the New Zealand flagged tankers, operated by Silver Fern Shipping for 11 years, delivering oil and fuel supplies around the New Zealand coast – visiting Lyttelton at least once a month.
“The training was a little bit daunting to start with because Ships Masters rely on the Harbour Pilots local knowledge and expert ship handling to manoeuvre their ships safely in port,” says Phillip.
“Whenever I was on a ship and you met the Pilot, there was a sense of relief you felt when someone else is going to ‘parallel park’ the ship for you.
“Suddenly, there is all this expectation of being the local expert, and now I’ve got to do the ship handling.”
Since joining LPC, Phil has also become a member of Te Whakaroopu, our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging committee, working to support the LGBTQIA+ community in the Port industry.
For Phillip he says it’s important to recognise that you never have any idea about what other people are going through, having had a number of people reach out to him needing someone to talk to.
“As a gay man working in the maritime industry and being publicly ‘out’ for the last 9 of them, I hope that those coming through now do not face the same issues I did, just as I didn’t face the same issues as those that paved the path before me.”
As part of the Marine Officer training, Phil is also learning how to drive our two tugs, Blackadder and Piaka, something he says requires a completely separate skill set.
“They are essentially 200-tonne bumper boats with a lot of horsepower,” he jokes.
“I have to unlearn all of my previous experience to drive a tug. But coming from the understanding and background of the tugs makes you a better pilot because you’re fully aware of what the tug capabilities are – what they can do and what they can’t do.”
Phillip’s career at sea actually started by accident, after failing the eyesight test for an aircraft Pilot, he qualified for the maritime standard.
After completing two years of theory at the Maritime Academy in Auckland, he then spent the next 18 months travelling around the world.
“I was an Officer Cadet onboard tramp ships based out of Singapore. This meant that wherever the cargo was, that’s where the ships went. I went all around the Caribbean, Europe, USA and Africa. I really enjoyed the challenges of deep-sea voyages.”