Article

Marine-Pilots.com celebrates its first anniversary these days!


by Frank Diegel - published on 26 October 2020 112 -

Picture by freepiks.com

International Marine pilot platform for information and knowledge exchange an acute necessity.

Editor's note by Frank Diegel

A Marine pilot would like to obtain information and further training on specific topics, would like to be informed promptly about current news and events and would like to exchange experiences and opinions with colleagues, not only from within his own organisation, but also across national and organisational borders. I for one, would like to find everything in ONE place.

The existing national and international structures, social media channels or the well- known maritime publications cannot meet all of the above needs. Large pilot organisations, for example, have a rather political mission and are not a maritime online magazine that reports daily about this and that down to the last corner of the world. News streams in social media channels such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and others are often up to date and fast, but the information is usually neither edited nor checked for truthfulness.Therefore the information "runs" through the news stream and after a few hours it has disappeared from the visible area and is therefore lost. The information does not remain there permanently. The common maritime online magazines only have a very small amount of pilot-specific content.

The importance of information exchange
The importance of exchange of information within Marine Pilots and their connected offices cannot be overemphasised. The world data on Marine Pilot is very scanty and the pilotage activity is also quite fragmented. The silos of Pilotage operations contained within port, are stand alone and hardly any incidences, near misses are shared with outside world. Hence the learnings from near misses are not captured and percolated outside the port for others to learn from someone else's mistakes.

If you study the trend in the pilotage accident, you will see a repetition of the same mistakes and so are the defects on board wrt Pilot ladders. There is immense need to curb this and collect various near misses as well as Incident reports so that we have ample data to analyse the things and this also can be shared across countries, MOUs and other organisations.

Frank Diegel - CEO & Founder of Marine-Pilots.com
Frank Diegel - CEO & Founder of Marine-Pilots.com
Frank Diegel - CEO & Founder of Marine-Pilots.com
Frank Diegel - CEO & Founder of Marine-Pilots.com

The idea of Marine-Pilots.com

Therefore, more than a year ago, I decided to found my own pilot portal with Marine- Pilots.com, which aggregates the many individual information islands on the internet and can serve as a central source of information for pilots. As a first step, our team has tried to "measure" the international pilot world, whether non-profit or commercially organised, in its entirety and to record and make visible as many organisations and companies offering pilot services as possible.To date we have collected more than 600 profiles from 120 countries around the world. We welcome any feedback, which will further complete this database for pilots. A tremendous Sisyphean task!

Central part of the portal is the collection of pilot-specific content, be it articles, news or even videos. All sorted by topicality and topics. Individual pilots have the opportunity to publish their opinions, experience and expertise in articles and make them available to a wide audience. A large part of the specialist articles come from the pilots themselves and are almost always truly unique content! The articles are discussed by the large community and the content is further distributed. Unlike social media, however, this information remains available in the long term, thus creating an ever-growing library of expertise and information for the world of pilots.

It is the first birthday of Marine-Pilots.com!
Marine-Pilots.com is celebrating its first birthday these days and we are surprised by the very positive feedback. We have achieved great relevance and acceptance in a short period of time and are used by many pilots to inform about their job. Only with the participation of the individual pilot in the large pilot community the amount of information continues to grow. I hereby invite everyone to participate!

Note from AIMPA President Capt. Gajanan Karanjikar

Very well elaborated Frank, we need to have that platform urgently and AIMPA is proud of the work Marine-Pilots.com is doing. The sharing of knowledge has no longer remained a virtue but is denitely a necessity in today's times of advanced technology. We need to have collective efforts on this from all organisations like CHIRP etc that are doing fantastic job for Maritime safety. AIMPA is also poised to take Indian Port Harbour front matters and safety of Navigation under its ambit to enhance and contribute to marine pilots, persons and port safety.
Maritime software and hardware development, digitalisation
What's your opinion on this?
Login or register to write comments and join the discussion!
Read more...

Article The magnetic north pole migration - What a Pilot should know

by Marine-Pilots.com - published on 22 February 2019

The Arctic magnetic pole does not move anymore. It runs, faster and faster. In recent years, even faster than expected. Therefore, geo-researchers have now had an unscheduled change to their world model and adjust their calculations, so that navigation with compass and other navigation aids such as a Pilot Plug, used by pilots around the world, continue to work.

0

Article The difficulty of finding marine pilot-specific information on the Internet

by Marine-Pilots.com - published on 4 November 2019

Who is a pilot and how do I find information about this great job on the Internet?

2

Opinion A year ago, pilot Capt. Dennis Sherwood died in the line of duty

by Frank Diegel - published on 30 December 2020

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?

1

Article Realtime run-through of Ever Given

published on 26 March 2021

Here's a realtime run-through of the #EVERGIVEN accident. After it gets stuck, check out the vessel two behind Evergiven - moving "somewhat erratically" and almost crashing into the Maersk Denver in front.

2

Article e-book and international book order available: "Theory and Practices of Marine Pilotage" by Capt. Santosha K Nayak

published on 7 August 2020

This book was only available in some areas, now the author has created an e-book version. Furthermore it´s available on amazon as a paperback.

Completely new book on Ship manoeuvring techniques based on new revealing facts which have been brought to light. Must read for all the mariners to understand the behaviour of ships and how to control her behaviour during manoeuvring.

1

Article Ships are manoeuvred in remote mode in Klaipeda Port

by Marine-Pilots.com - published on 28 April 2020

Klaipeda is one among few seaports in Europe, where maritime pilots are able to carry out operations in remote mode. As it is attempted to avoid contact with other persons as much as possible during the quarantine, several trials have already been performed in the seaport. They revealed that such assistance for the vessels sailing in Klaipeda Port is effective and safe.

0

Article New Managing Director at TRENZ GmbH

published on 11 June 2026

With effect from 1 June 2026, Steffen Schmedes has been appointed Managing Director of TRENZ GmbH. He will lead the company with immediate effect alongside Frank Diegel, who previously managed TRENZ alone.

2

Article TRENZ Introduces SIRIUS+: The Next Generation PPU with Enhanced Performance

by TRENZ GmbH - published on 15 May 2025

TRENZ, a leading manufacturer from Germany, is expanding its product lineup with the launch of SIRIUS+, a high-performance Portable Pilot Unit (PPU). As an evolution of the widely recognized SIRIUS model, the new device features cutting-edge technology designed for maximum precision and reliability, particularly for use on Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs).

1

Video Suezmax Tanker Northbound İstanbul Strait

published on 22 September 2020

www.turkishpilots.org.tr , Maritime Pilot , Turkish Straits , İstanbul Strait

0

Video Maritime Pilots' Institute

published on 4 July 2019

The Maritime Pilots Institute is the premier training facility for River Pilots employing a mix of virtual and real world facilities. Located in Covington Louisiana, we are 45 minutes from downtown New Orleans while offering the safety and amenities of small town life.
The training presents a balance between simulated locations with a variety of environmental conditions and manned scale models of cargo ships in a series of lakes with docking and currents and live factors such as wind and...

0