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The culture within Tasmania's state-owned ports operator has been called into question amid an exodus of managers, staff being "stressed beyond belief" and safety concerns.
TasPorts is responsible for 12 ports which move just over 99 per cent of the state's freight.
It has been without a permanent chief executive since the retirement of Paul Weedon last year, when it also conducted an intensive staff survey to address poor workplace culture.
Acting chief executive Anthony Donald confirmed 13 managers had left the organisation over the past 18 months.
"TasPorts is absolutely going through a change, it is a necessary change and an appropriate change," he told Leon Compton on ABC Radio Hobart.
He said the results of the survey, which won't be made public, were disappointing but not surprising.
"We have had a culture that has elements of avoidance and elements of lacking achievement," he said.
"The number-one finding was that there was little change between the 2013 cultural survey and the 2018 cultural survey.
"I'm open about the fact that our survey results are not that great. They are not something I, nor the rest of the leadership of the business, intend to maintain."
Pilots under pressure
The Maritime Officers Union told the Mornings program that pilots were under immense pressure and that poor rostering had resulted in costly shipping delays.
Pilots help manoeuvre vessels, including cruise ships, into ports.
Shipping at Bell Bay last year was delayed by 12 hours because staff members were on leave.
In January, there was only one pilot available for the Port of Hobart, resulting in some delays to shipping schedules.
The union's Tasmanian spokesman Jarrod Moran said pilots were "stressed beyond belief".
"They are concerned about what is going on and how they are being stretched," he said.
"The culture is not a particularly good culture."
He said there was also a strain on tug masters following drawn-out employment agreement negotiations.
A deal was finalised before Christmas but is set to expire again in a few months' time.
"That kind of stuff wears down your employees," Mr Moran said.
Call for additional pilots
The union wants an extra pilot employed in the north and south.
"There's not enough pilots at the moment," Mr Moran said.
"We've got some pilots, who, at the moment, have in excess of a year's annual leave or long service leave."
Mr Donald said unforeseen circumstances led to two pilots having to take leave in the north, which resulted in pressure on rostering.
He said there were 11 skilled pilots and that TasPorts had to get the balance right, pointing out that sometimes pilots had little work to do if there were no ships due.
"We equally have an obligation as a management team to ensure we have the right number of pilots," he said.
Safety concerns addressed
Mr Donald also responded to concerns around safety, after a Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) audit found four areas of non-compliance, which included its ability to deal with an emergency.
He said TasPorts had taken steps to resolve the issues.
"We are ready, able and willing to respond proactively to an emergency situation, and we spend a lot of time and effort ensuring our procedures, equipment and relationship with stakeholders is at an appropriate level.
"It's management's accountability, ultimately, to ensure without doubt and without compromise that we comply with our obligations under the deed.
"There has been instances in the past that are of concern."
The permanent chief executive position for TasPorts was advertised at the weekend.
TasPorts is responsible for moving 16 million tonnes of freight each year, and has an ambitious goal to double the size of its business by 2023.
Topics: sea-transport, transport, work, mental-health, health, community-and-society, hobart-7000
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