Due to an outbreak of fire on board the MV Omissis, the vessel was rescued about 22 nm offshore, and was towed into port by the harbour pilots of the Port of Palermo, where pilotage was provided as a compulsory service. Once in port, the harbour pilots assisted with the mooring, and positioned pontoons to allow for the docking of the ship.

The question was whether these operations carried out by the harbour pilots were to be qualified as pilotage or salvage.

Since the pilotage service was compulsorily provided in the public interest, so to guarantee the common safety of navigation, the Court of First Instance considered the activities carried out by the pilots as part of their pilotage contract, rather than as salvage.

The harbour pilots appealed this decision, claiming a violation of arts 1, 5, and 11 of the Salvage Convention 1989. According to the pilots, when they intervened, the ship was in a state of danger, and the Harbour Master of Palermo had assumed the direction of the salvage operations. In the opinion of the pilots, the Court also erroneously considered the positioning of the pontoons as falling within the normal duties of pilots, rather than within the scope of salvage.

Held: The activity of the harbour’s pilots, assisting with the mooring of a ship after it had been rescued at about 22 nm from the port and subsequently towed to the port, constitutes the execution of the duties of a pilotage service, provided for the purposes of the public interest for the safety of navigation. The harbour pilots will therefore have a right only to pilotage rates, and not to a salvage reward.