Ship Report Podcasts: Pilot boats - a special breed

Associated British Ports (ABP) will upgrade its recently acquired pilot launches to enhance safety, effectiveness, and sustainability, incorporating feedback from its pilots and marine teams. The program will expand the fleet of larger vessels from three to five, replace older models, and improve seakeeping, crew safety, comfort, handling, fuel efficiency, and emissions reduction.

The Baltic Workboats US wave-piercing, high-performance, self-righting aluminum pilot boat cuts through rough seas with ease, featuring superior sea keeping abilities, low vibration, low noise levels and high fuel efficiency all thanks to its advanced, modern design.

Pilot's boat port of Patras

South Australian port operator Flinders Ports (FP) has entered into an agreement to purchase three new pilot vessels over the next three years from Melbourne-based boatbuilder Hart Marine.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

The Port Phillip Sea pilots launch Torquay out and back again, seen at Point Lonsdale, Vic, Aust.
Ship spotting at Point Lonsdale and other water activities by Wally on Water.

This video gives you full access on board the 1000 foot Great Lakes ship Indiana Harbor of the American Steamship Company as it crosses Lake Superior from the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Two Harbors, Minnesota. It is a complete real experience that shows daily life and work with the crew who operate one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes. We board the ship at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and I show exactly what it is like to step on board and begin the...

This is a video I had captured off U.S Coast from a merchant vessel as the Pilot was transferred from our Ship to Shore via Helicopter.
All recordings were done using N8 (unbelievable clarity!)