The Marine Pilots' Community

Thousands of miles across the open ocean can seem like the easy part of a ship's journey. The real challenge begins when a massive vessel reaches the final few dozen miles, where open water gives way to narrow channels, strict traffic controls, powerful tugboats, and enormous locks. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the Panama Canal, where ships must be carefully guided through a complex system designed to move them between two oceans. So how can the last few miles of a journey become...

Join the Port Everglades Harbor Pilots as the conduct simulator training at the MMP School MITAGS in Baltimore Maryland.
#harborpilot #tug #simulator #maritime #MITAGS

Moored in the inner bay with engines warm, this 13m pilot boat is ready for sea. Lines slip away off the berth, the skyline slides past her mast, and out through the harbour mouth she opens up. Built by Dookyu Crown, for the water ahead. Looking for a pilot boat or a custom work boat for your waters? Send us a message.

Who pays when a pilot is injured on a ladder that should never have been rigged?
An opinion piece by Arie Palmers, maritime pilot, the Netherlands

Marine pilots must make crucial decisions under extreme conditions. Transferring from a cargo ship to a small pilot boat in hurricane-force gusts can be fatal. For marine pilots, this is the most dangerous moment in their daily working lives: climbing down a rope ladder from a cargo ship in gale-force gusts, and transferring to a small pilot boat. In mid-January, a pilot fell into the sea off Borkum and was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. Just a few days earlier, a British...

Port Everglades Pilot navigates the containership Tamar A inbound to her berth.
Join me as I follow my friend and fellow Port Everglades Harbor Pilot as he takes control and brings in the 550 foot containership Tamar A.
#harborpilot #ship #maritime #tug #porteverglades #containership #pilotboat

Safehaven Marine have just launched ‘Ederra 8’, she’s an 18m Interceptor 60 pilot, built for the MVD Pilots Association in Montevideo, Uruguay.
This is the third pilot boat we’ve built for their pilots, following ‘Ederra 6 and 7’, both Interceptor 48’s we delivered in 2022, which have worked very well for the pilots over the last several years. Overall she will be the 4th pilot boat we supplied to Montevideo including ‘Belgrano’ in 2020.
‘Ederra 8’ is also the fastest pilot boat we’ve...

The scene on approach to Le Havre as the pilot boat comes alongside and the pilot jumps aboard.

USS IDAHO inbound Port Everglades with Captain Gary Walley.
Join me as we watch this submarine complete its inbound and outbound transits of Port Everglades.
#harborpilot #submarine #porteverglades #maritime #tug #tugboat #navy

Why human sustainability must come first in maritime pilotage
An operational commentary by Esil Abibula, Maritime Pilot Class I

Original language!

A first cohort of trainee maritime pilots from Tanger Med and Nador West Med has successfully passed Morocco’s Maritime Pilotage Probationary Examination, marking an important development in the country’s approach to pilot training and competency assessment.

MV ULTRAMARINE inbound Port Everglades. Join me as I pilot the containership MV ULTRAMARINE to her berth in Port Everglades. #harborpilot #ship #maritime #porteverglades #job

#OilChemicalTanker Ship "TSURUGI GALAXY"/ #RioDeLaPlataPilots #DisembarkingManeuver/ On board #PilotVessel "SEA PILOT"/ #JP #KM239_1 #PuntaIndioChannel #Recalada #BoardingPoint #RioDeLaPlata #Argentina - 03rd. June 2026 - 08:52 hs. (Local Time).- This video (original sound) was filmed on board Pilot Vessel "SEA PILOT" and shows the Oil Chemical Tanker Ship "TSURUGI GALAXY", when she arrived at #BoardingPoint to start with the Disembarking Maneuver of Rio de la Plata Pilots. This maneuver...