Canada is in a transportation conundrum.  The economic rise of Asia has pulled huge volumes of grain, minerals and oil exports westward over the challenging Rocky Mountains and into B.C. ports — taxing existing rail infrastructure and causing ships to line up for days.  Blood is boiling as grain farmers, oil and mining companies fight over rail cars, port delays and lost business – forcing the government to continuously send money to shore up infrastructure.With the Trans Mountain pipeline mired in constitutional legalities and protests, this tinderbox is all but lit as even more rail resources will likely be dedicated to oil transport in the years to come.This is an unsustainable approach that all but defies logic – and there is a far cleverer solution.As rail companies like Canadian Pacific Railway have said, we need to relieve some of the pressure and move more products eastwards where the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence shipping navigation system has 50% capacity up for grabs.Railways love moving products such as grain and potash to the Port of Thunder Bay – which has shorter rail car cycle times than any Western Canadian port.  Vessel-loading times are also incredibly quick. Manitoba and parts of Saskatchewan already send grain exports eastwards with great success but there is an imaginary line in Saskatchewan where the transportation costs undermine the business case to use this route for key international export markets – and one of the reasons is the cost of pilotage.Following a review last year of pilotage services that recommended 38 reforms, the federal government has promised to introduce new legislation before the end of this parliamentary session.  This government must now seize the opportunity to make meaningful change to the transportation system and not just tinker but really transform a government-mandated service that for decades has been provided by monopolistic entities with little accountability or input from industry – despite the fact that it is paid for by industry fees – costs passed ultimately to consumers.For the uninitiated, pilotage is an unknown, unseen quantity.  You've probably never heard of it.  In ports and other specific channels, ships are mandated by law to have a pilot come on board to help with navigation.  Most of the 3700-kilometre Great Lakes-St. Lawrence waterway is within a mandatory pilotage zone as are other areas along the east and west coasts.The rationale is that a Canadian-licensed pilot will navigate the challenging areas where the ships' crew may not have travelled often and know the potential hazards. No one disputes this is an important safety measure.  The problem is how the service works.With just over 400 pilots in Canada, pilotage is managed by four federal crown corporations, each with their own set of regulations, operational procedures and management practices. In some areas, these pilotage authorities must contract pilots from monopoly, for-profit pilot corporations, which have been allowed to operate for decades as “fiefdoms” and are not obligated to provide any financial transparency.Unsurprisingly, pilotage costs have a long history of increasing at rates that far exceed the rate of inflation. Just in the past five years, fees, salaries and benefits paid to licensed pilots have increased 3.4 times more than CPI. For example, on the St. Lawrence River, the hourly cost of pilotage exceeds the cost of the entire crew of a vessel, or more than double the cost of a vessel's captain.Arbitrary rules abound in this opaque system, written into service contracts with pilots and outside of regulations.  These rules vary from region to region and include everything from paid holidays for birthdays to overly complex notice periods to order a pilot, adding confusion, costs and service delays.  Imagine what a complicated scheduling system with lots of restrictions would do to ridership at OC Transpo.The pilotage authorities (with pilot input) decide what areas should be designated mandatory pilotage zones, how many pilots should be on board, if extra tugs should be used.  To ensure objectivity, such decisions should be based on a review process overseen by an independent authority such as Transport Canada.In the Great Lakes, Canadian crews can be certified to pilot their own ships by following a comprehensive training program that promotes on board training and evaluates the officers' piloting skills in the area.  Statistics show that this system has been very successful with Canadian crews having an even better safety record than vessels navigated by pilots.In the St. Lawrence, these same captains that know their ships better than anyone and regularly travel on this waterway should be certified under a similar qualification system.  But they're not.It's a no-brainer that this system is broken.Ship operators, ports and customers alike are pushing a host of reforms, including having the government create a standardized and improved certification program for domestic crews.   Pilotage authorities in all regions should also be given the flexibility to use their own employee pilots or pilot corporations.It's time for the federal government to be bold and innovative and make substantive changes that will create a pilotage system that not only ensures safe navigation but improves the efficiency and competitiveness of Canada's transportation system for years to come.Bruce R. Burrows, is the President of the Ottawa-based Chamber of Marine Commerce.www.marinedelivers.com @MarineDelivers