Dr Hortense Ross-Innerarity: Focused, fearless, strong

THEY call her “supe”: The first female superintendent of pilotage at the Port Authority, Dr Hortense Ross-Innerarity, says she’s a very strong leader who believes in self-empowerment and continuous professional development learning.

“I am very results-oriented, I would say ballsy, very empathetic and compassionate,” she tells All Woman. “I think once you are in your profession you should strive to be the best you can be, and I try to encourage the same for my direct reports.”

From her offices at the Pilotage Building at the Port Authority in downtown Kingston, overlooking the Kingston Harbour, Dr Ross-Innerarity, who has been in the industry over 35 years, stresses that she has always been confident and always believed in her abilities, embodying the qualities of a good leader, even when at 32 years old when she entered Port Authority in a male-dominated industry with pilots who had been practising before she was born, she entered the space knowing that there needed to be change, needed to be a shift.

She emphasises that she values honesty, people, and loves to see people growing, expanding, and being better versions of themselves.

“And if I contribute to that in any way, shape, or form, I am satisfied,” she said. “And I think over the many years I have been able to do that.”

As the superintendent of pilotage at the Port Authority, critical to Dr Ross-Innerarity’s function is providing a safe and effective pilotage service.

“That requires effective communication, coordination, and strong leadership to get the job done,” she explained. “We have to work closely with other service providers such as the port and terminal operators, harbour tug service providers, pilot boat service providers, ship agents, ship captains and the local experts, the marine pilots.”

With her team, she said the pilotage service is delivered to all ports in Jamaica, compulsory service in accordance with the provisions of the Pilotage Act of 1975. “Compulsory pilotage means that every vessel calling at a Jamaican port is required to have a licensed pilot on board,” she explained. “The main reason for that is to manage ship safety and port safety, because pilotage is about risk management in congested and restricted waters and ports.”

A typical day for Dr Ross-Innerarity could start from midnight, depending on conditions, but ordinarily, she’s in office early, in dialogue with personnel, which could include a pilot, a ship agent, dispatcher, depending on what is happening. She gets updates on vessel traffic at every port, the current status of pilot boats, the crews, etc.

“My journey has been exciting, challenging,” she gushed. “I have been very fortunate that my personal development plan worked seamlessly. The job I do, I thoroughly enjoy it. I’m very passionate about what I do, and I believe in always being better, so I’m always doing research, seeing what other countries are doing in pilotage administration, what can I do to share that increased knowledge with my team…I could not have accomplished what I have to date without the support of the pilots and the team at the pilotage department.”

Dr Ross-Innerarity is particularly proud of two accomplishments – when she was studying international shipping and logistics at what was then Caribbean Maritime Institute, now Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), her research was on developing a floating dry dock in Jamaica. “So to see in 2023 the establishment of a dry dock, that gives me a lot of satisfaction,” she said.

Secondly, she said she played a very integral role in the pilot dispatch system that is currently used today. “I was able to do that because of my all-round knowledge of the industry; I know what it is that we want to accomplish, and what it is that’s required to deliver an improved and efficient pilot dispatch service,” she said. “I am very satisfied with where we are today. There’s still more work that we’re doing, but when I compare what we have to what currently exists on the market, we have a superior product.”

A student of many disciplines, among other educational achievements, Dr Ross-Innerarity studied maritime pilotage at the Nautical Institute in the United Kingdom; maritime management at Fairfax University in the United States; small business coaching with International Coach Academy in Australia; benefited from two International Maritime Organization (IMO) scholarships in senior port management and advanced port operations and management; and also from a Belgian government scholarship in that country on maritime accessibility and vessel traffic management, as well as other professional development courses. Between 1997 and 2017 she served as an adjunct lecturer at CMU, focusing on the maritime subject areas, and she holds a Doctorate in Business Administration in international maritime business from International Open University.

She said her best career achievement to date is being known as the first female superintendent of pilotage and having achieved success in the role.

“It’s not enough to have a title; in fact, I was told by a representative of the IMO in 2016 that I’m the only female in this position. To be able to be given the opportunity in 1998, and to embrace it, and to deliver, that gives me a lot of satisfaction,” she said.

“I’m appreciated not just locally, I’m appreciated in the industry because I’ve studied in France, I’ve studied in Belgium, and they were very, very appreciative of my contributions in those training sessions,” she emphasised.

Her greatest contribution to the world, she said, is to have delivered a very smart young man, her son Tai, who is following in her footsteps. “Already at a young age he has made a significant contribution to this space, and I’m very proud of him, and I’m very proud of that.”

Careerwise, she said her greatest contribution is knowing that the service she provides is supporting international trade.

“Shipping is the only true international business, and as superintendent of pilotage, charged with the responsibility to provide an effective and efficient pilotage service, and being able to achieve that in some measure, we’re contributing to the safe movement of vessels into and out of the port,” she said. “And when you can boast a very good safety record for your port, then you are actually supporting and facilitating smooth flow of goods into and out of the country. In the end, what you do stimulates activities in the local economy and facilitates global trade.”

For any young person entering the field, she advises them to be positive and not be afraid of failure.

“Failure is a lesson to make you stronger and better. Pursue your dreams despite what anybody says to you. Success can be achieved by anyone. Surround yourselves with like-minded and positive people. Shun negativity and always seek to grown and empower yourself.”

Outside of work, you can find Dr Ross-Innerarity hiking – the sports lover actually ran track in high school, and now loves cricket, football, American football, and watching documentaries.

The youngest of seven children, and hailing from Unity, a small district in Lawrence Tavern in St Andrew, this former Oberlin High School head girl said she also loves dancing, but said in a space where she’s by herself, you’ll find her doing research, primarily on matters relating to the maritime industry.

“I’m just driven; for me there’s never a dull moment,” she said. “My motivation comes from within; I think I’m my biggest driver of what it is I want to do.”

She added, “Success is when you’re at a place in your life when you’d have done and achieved what you set out to achieve… not measured by material things, but the space you’re living and existing in. Success is when you can look back on your life and say I made a difference in a positive way, in this industry, in someone else’s life, in my community, in my country.”