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.

I am not a computer savvy. My knowledge in programming and robotics and those sort of things is nil. I get lost in the sea of social media and easily entangle myself in the web. All I have done for the last 25 years or so is to pilot ships through the Panama Canal. However, during the last couple of years I have done my best to catch up with technology, since it has enhanced our possibilities and improved safety in our field. But still, I have to admit that I am way behind the new guys in this important issue.

APA says: “Pilots share NOAA’s goal of protecting the North Atlantic right whale, but this is the wrong approach.”

In this episode, we are joined by Thijs Hoff, a maritime pilot with over 15 years of experience at sea and 4 years as Maritime pilot. Thijs will take us through the 'how' of becoming a maritime pilot, offering a detailed look at the educational pathways, skills, and work-life balance that come with the role.

Hooghly river Marine pilotage is one of the toughest and longest pilotage in the world,
pilots here face many challenges daily to enable safe passage of ships from bay of Bengal to the port of CALCUTTA and Haldia.
Pilot embarkation and disembarkation is a vital part , where the pilot climbs up or down a rope ladder ,if the free board is more than 9 meters then combination ladder is used it needs very good physical fitness practice and experience to safely embark and disembark from these...

MT DELTA PIONEER sailed from Europoort, in Port of Rotterdam to sea. On arrival at the pilot station the Pilot Station Vessel PROCYON was on station to pick up the pilot from this 250 m long vessel.

Unissued / Unused material - Hamburg, West Germany (FDR - Federal Republic of Germany). German helicopters are used to carry river boat pilots to where they are needed. Big CU Helicopter pilot talking into mouthpiece. Aerial view from helicopter of boat below. MS as the helicopter comes in and lands on deck of the ship. Various shots as pilot is picked up from lightship and flown off in helicopter. LS From bridge of ship as helicopter flies overhead. CU Small bird sitting on capstan. (f.g....

The Ministry of Transport can confirm that the pilot boat, St David, was involved in a crash with a reef off of the Northeast Breaker Beacon on Thursday, May 6th, 2021 at 6:48am.