UK Ports and Pilots take firm stand against Non-compliant Trap Door Boarding arrangements

There are many things in both our everyday and professional lives which we take for granted and never question the origins of, an example of this might be the IMPA recommended ‘pilot mark or pilot line’, which is sometimes seen on the side of vessels indicating where a vessels freeboard exceeds 9 metres.

During the transit time on the pilot launch between the shore and the vessel, marine pilots will spend at least a portion of that time carrying out (either consciously or subconsciously) a risk assessment of the forthcoming operation.

Over the past few years a number of pilot transfer accidents have occurred resulting from total failure of the side ropes, one school of thought is that the methods of securing a pilot ladder is a factor in such occurrences.

Safehaven Marine build a range of vessels for many different operational roles such as patrol, survey, crew transfer to name a few, but what makes Safehaven unique is that we specialize in pilot boats, with 80% of our production dedicated to just this area, and have supplied over 50 pilot craft all around the world over the last 17 years.

The Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis has released Marine Safety Alert 05-21, to notify mariners to a potentially dangerous situation involving corrosion of the turntable pin on accommodation ladders.

For the safety of maritime pilots

"Although this should not happen, pilot ladders sometimes suddenly slip one step. Always grip the sideropes firmly and you can handle this!"

Here’s a nice video of ‘Miami’ the Interceptor 48 pilot we built for the Biscayne Bay Pilots, Florida on sea trials, with Voyager helping out as the camera boat.

Captain Andre Smith shares risks facing marine industry