Ship Report Podcasts: Pilot boats - a special breed

Found on YouTube. Created by "Capt Larry ". Originally published on 2024-05-24.

Here’s some cool video footage we captured of the Cork Pilots in their Interceptor 48 pilot boat ‘Failte’ undertaking pilot transfers off Cork Harbour during the recent days of strong SE gales. Roches Point lighthouse recorded 50kts of wind on the 13th as the Cosco bulk carrier passed and the Cork wave buoy 2nm off the harbour entrance recorded waves to 6.7m at the time. The pilot boat coxwain managed to get alongside and safely disembark the pilot despite the challenging sea state....

This video is filmed in 2015, edited 2021.
A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. They are navigational experts possessing knowledge of the particular waterway such as its depth, currents, and hazards, as well as being experts in handling ships of all types and size. A Maritime pilot is an expert ship handler who is licensed or authorised...

Baltic Workboats latest state of the art pilot boat recently delivered to the Laurentian Pilots in Canada.
More info on the vessel can be found here:
https://balticworkboatsus.com/vessel/pilot-1700-wp/

The European Tugowners Association in collaboration with the European Maritime Pilots Association has produced this informative video on efficient and safe towage operations. These guidelines address the main factors affecting the safety of harbour towage operations such as good communications between pilots, ship captains and tugmasters.

Study from 2015: Psychological stressors, in addition to the physical demands associated with the role (e.g., reduced sleep, boarding, and departing vessels), may over time have a damaging effect on pilots' physical and mental health.

It remains a sad fact that accidents and near misses continue to occur during pilot transfers with frightening regularity. Most of these fortunately do not result in injury, and a surprisingly high number of them are not even recognised for what they are.

Surveys into pilot ladder safety consistently reveal that unacceptably high numbers of pilot transfer arrangements are not compliant with the regulations.

In this paper, the risk of ship pilotage in Jiangsu section of the Yangtze River is studied by fuzzy comprehensive evaluation: risk factor identification, risk evaluation and decision making suggestion.