Ship Report Podcasts: Pilot boats - a special breed

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.

HADRIAN (IMO: 9222259) is a Pilot Ship that was built in 2000 (21 years ago) and is sailing under the flag of United Kingdom.
Her length overall (LOA) is 16.13 meters and her width is 5.3 meters.

Built by Luke Powell and his working Sail Yard in Truro, Cornwall, launched in February 2020. The lines were taken from the Vincent, a Falmouth Pilot cutter built in 1852 for the Vincent family of St Mawes. She worked for 70 years as a pilot boat, finally retiring in 1922 and ending her days as a houseboat on the Percuil River very close to the yard where she had been built. When the idea to build a new pilot cutter of considerable size was born, the lines of Vincent were seen as the...

The first of three Watercat 160 Pilot was delivered to the Finnish Finnpilot Pilotage Ltd. in spring 2022. This PILOT boat has a self-righting ability as well as the ability to sail in surface ice of up to five centimetres thick. It can also be operated in deeper offshore waters to accommodate transfers of pilots to deeper-draught ships. The Watercat 160 Pilot can operate even in more restrictive inner harbour waters. The bow has D-type rubber fendering while the hull sides are equipped...

She is destined for their pilotage operations at Jebel Ali in the UAE, the Worlds ninth busiest port and follows their first Pilot 60 ‘Murshid’ delivered last December.

Pilot Boarding on PCC Vessel

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.

A good working relationship with the pilot, effective Master Pilot Information Exchange at the start of the pilotage followed by well performing Bridge Resource Management during the pilotage passage, are important factors in a successful pilotage.

Currently, several means of transport are undergoing an accelerated development towards automation and automated movements. This development will also impact future ship handling with tugs. A glimpse into the future of tug boat operation.

Waiting on the porch of boat pilot cabin. Putting on life vest and embarking on boat pilot speedboat. Navigating on St Lawrence River towards cargo ship Federal Kumano. Embarking on cargo ship. Talking stairs up tp navigation bridge. Meeting crew.Taking over controls of Federal Kumano.