With hourly rates of more than $4,000 for harbor pilots in some ports, cruise and cargo ship groups are calling Florida’s pilot system a monopoly that limits pilot numbers and inflates their salaries.

A study commissioned by the Florida Alliance of Maritime Organizations (FAMO) said that harbor pilots, who board cargo and cruise ships and help guide them through congested harbors, make an average salary of $368,000 per year.

According to the study, the harbor pilots make well above similar occupations, causing Florida to lose jobs, income, economic output and state revenue.

The pilots make more than fireman, air traffic controllers, and even airline captains, who on the largest planes make on average $225,000 per year, the study found.

"Pilots like to say that their job is very dangerous, but a fireman that climbs into a burning building makes an average of $55,000 per year,” said Michele Paige, president of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) and of FAMO.

Paige said that the average harbor pilot makes about $2,000 per hour, and that their compensation has continued to grow in part because there are so few pilots. Florida’s 14 ports were served in 2008 by 88 pilots, who were paid approximately $50 million in fees by cargo and passenger vessel operators.

"The pool of eligible pilot licenses has historically been kept low and not subjected to free market conditions," as licenses are issued by the state Board of Pilot Commissioners, half of whom are harbor pilots, the study said.

"We are looking at a system that’s archaic, and that was approved 35 years ago," Paige said. "The ships are different, the ports are different, the technology is different. We’re looking at having a better system. And one of the most pertinent reasons why is because it is costing consumers a lot of money to keep the system the way it is."

The additional costs to the ships are passed onto consumers who ultimately buy the cargo or, in the case of cruise lines, the passengers.

Paige said that in Tampa the average cost per cruise for the harbor pilot services was $14,000 per 70-gross-ton ship. At that rate, if the 160,000-ton Freedom of the Seas were to dock in Tampa, the pilot fee would be more than $30,000.

"They charge based on tonnage, which is also archaic," Paige said. "When the ships were smaller, it went under the radar screen. Now it’s the same pilot, who had no different training, and it takes no more time, but instead of making $500 they are making $14,000."

This is the second time that cruise industry has taken on the harbor pilot system in recent months.

The FCCA, along with Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., have been involved in a lengthy dispute with the Galveston-Texas City Pilots Association over its requirement that two pilots be aboard every cruise ship. The second pilot charges the line half of the regular rate.

Over the summer, the association said it would lift the two-pilot requirement if the cruise lines supported a 5% rate increase.