{"id":780,"date":"2026-09-09T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amurasolutions.com\/?p=780"},"modified":"2026-09-09T07:31:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T07:31:03","slug":"a-pilot-walks-into-a-tech-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amurasolutions.com\/index.php\/en\/2026\/09\/09\/a-pilot-walks-into-a-tech-company\/","title":{"rendered":"A pilot walks into a tech company\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A pilot walks into a tech company; it sounds like the setup for a joke, but it marked a very cherished chapter in my life as European Maritime Pilots Association<\/strong> Vice President. This article recounts my journey to bring EMPAsafe<\/strong>1<\/a><\/sup>. from a spark of an idea to a living, breathing reality, alongside my colleagues in EMPA and the extraordinary people at Hiades, the maritime tech company behind Amura Smart Solutions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of my life, my world, whether working as a pilot or on board ships, has been defined by ships, tides, weather, and people. My work as a maritime pilot is rooted in professional judgement, the kind that can only be gained after years spent working at sea, standing on bridge wings, reading the natural environment with your senses as much as with your instruments, and comparing the two to get an accurate assessment of any situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I embarked on the EMPAsafe<\/strong> project with EMPA <\/strong>and worked closely on it, with its current President, Miguel Vieira de Castro<\/strong>, we found ourselves in unfamiliar waters. Our shared vision was bold: <\/strong>to connect all EMPA members through the transformative power of the current technological revolution<\/strong>.<\/mark> While some members already had national reporting apps and others lacked digital reporting systems, none of these platforms was interconnected. Data silos persisted across the association, leaving valuable insights untapped. Seizing this golden opportunity, we aimed to unify our data to unlock the full potential of our membership network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, I never set foot in the Hiades <\/strong>office; all collaboration on the project was done online. I didn’t begin this journey as a software expert, nor can I claim to be one now. I was arriving as a mariner and experienced pilot, carrying decades of lived experience, and hoping that the people in this new world would understand the one I came from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I expected were online meetings, with the tech people surrounded by screens, app architecture diagrams, and baffling technical jargon. But what I found was something far more important: people who genuinely wanted to understand the human reality behind maritime operations. EMPAsafe <\/strong>was never just a digital project. It was a human one. It was about connecting 4500 EMPA members.<\/strong> It was about giving our members the tools to inform one another about ship defects, including those that may harm them, such as substandard pilot transfer arrangements. It was about making it easy for pilots to fulfil their reporting obligations to their national authorities. But most of all, it was about protecting life and prioritising people in an ever increasingly commercial world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the work began, the clear goal was to get inside the mind of a pilot, identify what makes them tick, and build an app they would find easy to use, because easy-to-use apps get used. So the goal was to bridge the human element into a digital system. With 4500 members, organising a large amount of data was an initial concern. With so many ships moving in the European Area on a daily basis, the original concern was organising that data into usable chunks and identifying trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number on a dashboard cannot tell you what it means to navigate a ship with a steering fault in confined waters or what it feels like to face a noncompliant transfer arrangement. Defining which data points were of interest to pilots was very important, as they were predominantly centred on personal safety. What impressed me most was the project managers and coders willingness and understanding of what we needed. On reflection, I wondered why this was surprising, perhaps biases or just not knowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech companies often talk about disruption, automation, and digital transformation. Hiades<\/strong>, to a certain extent, is no different; they advertise its products Amura Smart Solutions<\/strong> and themselves in the conventional way that every other software company does, on the strengths of what their Amura<\/strong> product can do for their customers. Maybe it is me being naive, or possibly over optimistic, but what made this experience stand out for me was the people. Hiades <\/strong>has great people. Their project managers asked questions that showed genuine curiosity about the profession. Their designers wanted to understand how pilots think, not just how pilots click. Then, collaboratively, they focused on building something that would genuinely help the maritime community. I always felt fully integrated into the Hiades <\/strong>team, which treated me as a partner in this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a team, we were very happy with the finished product; it was not a pre\u2011packaged, tried-and-tested product but a bespoke build, one that fitted the lived reality of a pilot’s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been vocal for years about the dangers of believing technology can replace people in the maritime industry in the short term. MASS <\/strong>developers often talk about autonomy as if seamanship can be downloaded. It cannot, as I have argued in previous articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology must be developed with<\/em> people’s support and designed with supporting people as a primary goal. There is no doubt that AI and technology will revolutionise all parts of life, and business is no different; the maritime sector is no different. EMPAsafe <\/strong>is a perfect example of this. It can reveal patterns no human could see on their own by sorting through thousands of reports in the blink of an eye to establish trends. It can identify emerging risks in split seconds and share that information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hiades<\/strong>\u2019s team instinctively understood the value of people in the maritime and port sector and how Amura<\/strong>\u00b4s technology and architecture can support them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stepping into the tech world taught me three important lessons. First, technology succeeds when it truly respects people, and EMPAsafe <\/strong>works because it reflects the reality pilots face daily, not an abstract model. Second, the best innovation always springs from collaboration rather than disruption, and Hiades\u2019 culture is rooted in listening, understanding, and genuine partnership. Third, when technology is shaped by lived experience, it becomes a tool that strengthens, never threatens, the profession and that builds trust in tech companies and the products they sell. After all, pilotage is a service in the public interest, and technology should reinforce, not replace, those who work in this critical service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I metaphorically walked into a tech company’s office with caution and curiosity and left with optimism for our futures. This optimism is not because tech and AI are great, but because it is the people behind the scenes who make it great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to thank Airam and Nayra<\/strong>, the owners of Hiades and Amura Smart Solutions<\/strong>, whose commitment of time and talent made the EMPAsafe <\/strong>project possible. Their belief in the mission was matched by the dedication of two amazing project managers who invested endless energy in guiding me toward new ways of thinking, yet never letting me lose sight of my roots as a pilot. The coder assigned to the project was highly professional and attentive, carefully translating my non-technical feedback into a seamlessly user-friendly application. Working alongside them was not only a privilege, but a few years I\u2019ll always appreciate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n
  1. EMPAsafe<\/strong> is an innovative communication platform that allows EMPA members to report ship deficiencies to each other and to their respective national authorities. This enhances safety at the personal and national levels and ensures that pilots continue to operate in the public interest. \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    About the author<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    Patrick Galvin<\/strong> is president of the Association of Marine Pilots of Ireland (AMPI) and a Class 1 marine pilot on the Shannon Estuary, where he has been practising since 2009. With over three decades\u2019 experience in the maritime sector, he spent his career on board vessels operated by companies such as Arklow Shipping, P&O Ferries and Stena Line, rising to the rank of captain. Between 2021 and 2025, he served on the board of the European Maritime Pilots\u2019 Association (EMPA), rising to the position of vice-president.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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