Competent harbour authorities (CHA) in the United Kingdom are those harbour authorities that have been given statutory powers relating to the provision of pilotage in their waters. The description was created by the Pilotage Act 1987, at which point a CHA had to be one whose harbour was wholly or partly within a pilotage district where at least one act of pilotage had been performed, or where a pilotage exemption certificate had been in force, between 1984 and 1987. However, the act provided a procedure by which other harbour authorities could be assigned CHA status and some harbours have taken advantage of this process. The Marine Navigation Act 2013 amended the Pilotage Act to provide a reverse process, so that harbour authorities could be relieved of CHA status.
A statutory harbour authority (SHA) is a different designation which permits harbours to charge dues and remove wrecks, as well as conferring the responsibility to maintain buoys and lighthouses within the area of the harbour. Statutory harbour authorities are regulated under the Harbours Act 1964.[1]
All competent harbour authorities are also statutory harbour authorities.
The following are those harbour authorities that are currently identified as CHAs: