IMPA is hosting examples of best practice and protocols during Covid-19 times

The United Kingdom Maritime Pilots' Association (UKMPA) has all been inundated with CV19 communications from all manner of sources in the last few weeks. Here is a condensed collection of information from the UKMPA.

On Monday, March 23, 2020, Admiral Osama Rabie announced the successful transit of the Italian passenger ship COSTA DIADEMA in the northbound convoy through the new Suez Canal, coming from the United Arab Emirates heading to Italy. Special measures were applied, as 65 Coronavirus cases were reported on board which required piloting the vessel remotely through pilotage team boarded on two escorting tugs in full coordination with the transit control offices and navigation monitoring stations in a first of its kind scenario in the history of the Suez Canal.

Fewer vessels in voyage mean less pilotage and this means less income for many Pilots. Not every Pilot is an employee and many pilots are self-employed and organised in a brotherhood per example. They are earning only money if they are piloting a vessel. No vessel – no money.

Editor's note: The pilot boarding seems a bit improvised and unsafe to me, but that's certainly business as usual, isn't it?

We bid farewell to our Otaru marine pilot just outside Otaru Harbor, Japan. The crew of the pilot tug were particularly fastidious about not marking up the side of the Viking Orion during the operations, spraying the interface with water, even though that might have made the transfer more hazardous for the pilot. From the Viking Orion, October 2024

From "Casual Navigation": In this video, we investigate the Pilot Ladder. It is a crucial piece of equipment, used for embarking and disembarking a harbor pilot at sea.(contains advertising)

Brisbane-based Poseidon Sea Pilots has contracted local Queensland shipbuilder, Norman R.Wrights & Sons to build million of dollars in pilot boats.

Article originally published in SWZ|Maritime September 2022

Through the years, the Dutch Pilots have developed a system of selection, initial education and continual professional training. What is the current state of affairs?