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.

On August 5, 2020 at approximately 10:30 pm, Sandy Hook Pilot Captain Timothy M. Murray was involved in an incident while boarding a tanker vessel inbound to the Port of New York & New Jersey. He sustained injuries after falling from a pilot ladder and was evacuated to a local hospital where his injuries proved to be fatal.

Pilot transfer arrangement is a sensitive topic to be discussed among the pilot’s fraternity. Although ships are designed and operated with compliance to the SOLAS requirements in all respects including the pilot transfer arrangements, there has been numerous deficiencies observed related to pilot transfer arrangements. The small deficiencies from the part of ships cause life threatening accidents for pilots and sometimes to the ship staff themselves. There are many instances of defective ladder and complacency in proper rigging of ladders has been reported almost every day in different parts of the world. Many pilots lost their life, severely injured for life and face many minor to major accidents. The latest incident being the Capt. Timothy Murray of Sandy hooks Pilot.

This video is all about transiting danish water through "great belt bridge" .
Vent Maersk was bound for Bremerhaven, Germany from Kotka, Finland.

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.

SENIOR PILOT CAPTAIN ERTAN OZGUR performing departure maneuvering of MSC co ship MSC MARYLENA. She has bowthruster, right handed pitch propeller. She will be using 2 tugboats.

Tug power has increased considerably over recent decades. Today, some ship handling tugs have a bollard pull of more than 100 tons. In addition, high tug power can be installed in ever smaller compact hulls.

This is a short documentary done in the 1980s of San Diego Harbor Pilots. It shows the old pilot boat built in 1914. The boat was donated to the Maritime Museum and provides daily bay rides for the public. The film shows arrival of the cruise ship SS Azure Seas.

A few shots from the day, with Elisabeth-S and H&S Fairness plus the pilot boat. I put music to it as it was such a windy day.