Welcome to the Website of the Lake Charles Pilots.

The Lake Charles Pilots is a group of skilled mariners whose responsibility it is to safely guide large ocean-going ships up and down the narrow Calcasieu Ship Channel to various docks within the Port of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The purpose of this website is to provide traffic information and management guidelines to enhance the safety of all channel users. It is not feasible, nor is it the intent of these guidelines to cover each and every situation that may arise. Nothing in these safety guidelines shall be construed to limit in any way the individual discretion of any Pilot.

Disclaimer: The information presented on this web site is believed to be accurate at the time of posting, but no further claims or guarantees are made. The Lake Charles Pilots provide this information as a public service to the maritime industry, but will not be responsible for its use. Mariners are strongly urged to verify any information, particularly concerning navigation, prior to use.

The Port of Lake Charles is accessed via the Calcasieu Ship Channel. The channel is unique in that it has the longest offshore channel of any U.S. port. For this reason, there exists four designated Pilot Boarding Areas to accommodate vessels of various drafts.

It is required that all ships embark and disembark their pilots in areas where the water depth outside of the buoyed channel will permit the vessel to navigate outside of the channel in order to provide a safe lee for pilot transfer.

State Pilotage is compulsory for foreign vessels and vessels under Registry whenever a vessel is constrained by its draft to remain inside of the buoyed channel. Federal Pilotage is required on vessels greater than 1600 tons, who do not have on board a pilot licensed by the U.S.C.G. BR>
Pilotage is optional, available and for safety reasons, is often recommended, seaward of the compulsaory pilotage area, depending on the amount of traffic as well as the size and draft of various ships. A tremendous amount of oilfield and fishing traffic converge on the area between number 8 buoy, (also called the "second dogleg"), and number 36 buoy, and the pilots' familiarity with these boats and the normal habits of their crews proves invaluable to a ship's Master. Because of this concentration of traffic, it is recommended that ships of 40,000 Deadweight Tons and greater, whose Masters are unfamiliar with this area, consider having a pilot on board anytime the vessel is inshore of number 8 buoy.

Considering the amount of tonnage handled by the Port of Lake Charles, (ranked 11th in the country), and related industries, such as PPG, CMS Energy, Conoco and Citgo, the Calcasieu Ship Channel has one of the finest safety records in the United States. The Lake Charles Pilots intend to keep it that way.

Because the dynamics involved when a ship transits a narrow channel present an ever-changing environment, it is impossible to set firm rules to cover each and every situation that may arise during a transit. The actual pilot on the scene is the person in the best position to evaluate a specific situation and determine a proper course of action. The discretion of the on-scene pilot must not be hindered in any way. The guidelines stated here-in are in no way intended to hinder or overide the discretion of any on-scene pilot or Master, as they navigate vessels upon the Calcasieu Ship Channel. There may be situations in which actions that conflict with these safety guidelines may be necessary, to avoid immediate danger, when reacting to a specific circumstance. While the Lake Charles Pilots are indirectly involved in the overall economic well being of the Port of Lake Charles, they are not directly or indirectly involved in any financial ventures connected with the Port in any way. Therefore they can objectively make recommendations that are in the interest of safety along the Calcasieu River and Ship Channel.