Maritime Pilot first duty at New Harbour

Experiences of a Pilot: The port's chief pilot talks about his work, "what we do is not well known in the city", and about the risk they run, "on a bad day we can get scared", he says.

It has been exactly one year ago that a pilot from Sandy Hook (New York), Dennis Sherwood, died in the line of duty while attempting to board the container vessel Maersk Kensington.
What has happened since then? Has safety been improved for the pilots?

Tuesday, October 1st is the start date of the latest International Maritime Pilot Association's annual Safety Campaign.

Previous campaigns by the association have consistently shown results of pilot ladder deficiencies around the 20% mark.

A cargo ship lost power while approaching the dock at the Port of Tampa Thursday. Officials said quick thinking by harbor pilots and tug boats got it under control.

Poseidon on the model boat pond in Vallensbæk, Denmark.
Poseidon is a pilot boat based on a kit but modified to match the real pilot boat "Poseidon". The entire super structure is scratch built with very detailed interior that this video doesn't do justice. The real boat is based in Hornbæk, Denmark. The builder has made many visits to this boat to get all the details right.
Builder and owner: Ole Bødker
Link to Vallensbæk model boat club (Danish): http://www.vallensbaekmodelskibsklub.dk

Before you, you see my third article on pilot boarding arrangements. After my two previous articles ‘1000 ways to secure a pilot ladder’ and ‘1000 ladders around’, I have received a lot of feedback and also questions to get deeper into the matter of combinations and embarkation platforms.

In the last couple of years several paid as well as free tools have made it easier than ever to access vessels on a map. Although vessels shown on a map have their place, authorities and industry are understanding the greater potential and value of the underlying AIS data.

Research on hydrodynamic interaction indicates that if the speed of the ship near a bank is too high, the rudder may be less able to cope with the forces induced and control will be lost. The Nautical Institute highlights this in its latest Mars Report, in which an LPG carrier hit a barge being towed by a tugboat as a result of hydrodynamic forces.

AMS has released the annual report of marine incidents reported from regulated Australian and foreign flagged vessels in Australian waters. It includes an analysis of reported marine incidents during 2016 to 2019, with a focus on 2019 data.