River Mersey Pilot Boat going slowly inbound on the river before turning and heading northbound again.

These are some of the reliable sturdy Pilot boats of Netherlands and Belgium to bring and pick up Marine Pilots to and from commercial merchant vessels either inbound or outbound. The Marine Pilots are licensed PROFESSIONALS who have a thorough knowledge of a certain port and they guide the Master/Captain of commercial ships in and out of the foreign Seaport. Location: Steenbank Pilot Station, Flushing/Vlissingen Pilot Station, Wandelaar Pilot Station. Boats in order of appearance in this...

Over the course of 4 days this August, I was afforded the opportunity and privilege of riding with the Savannah Bar Pilots for an article I was writing for a major maritime magazine. The pilots are given the responsibility of boarding a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean and safely navigating the vessel up the Tybee Road 9 (a name for the shipping lane that leads into the Savannah River), into the Savannah River, and into the Port of Savannah. The same is done in reverse when a ship is outbound...

Good news for pilot safety: As one of the leading shipping companies, MAERSK is now targeting the notorious "trapdoor arrangements". A corresponding notification to all the company's ships concerned was made public in the last few days.

International Maritime Pilots' Association (IMPA) received the 2022 SAFETY4SEA Initiative Award for conducting annually its ‘Pilot Ladder Safety Campaign’ with the objective of reporting pilots’ experiences of ladders and boarding equipment to the IMO and the wider shipping community. Other distinguished short-listed nominees of this category were: Inmarsat, International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), Safetytech Accelerator and Seafarers Hospital Society. We are honored to be...

NAUTITEC conducts Basic and Advanced Polar Code Trainings

On 21st and 22nd September, the ISPO conference 2022 will be held at Cork in Ireland. Now the conference program and topics have been published.

The European Maritime Pilot´s Association has released the new Newsletter issue 005/2022.

My first movement as harbor pilot, once my training was completed: Unberthing, moving astern to the turning area, then going back astern to another location of the same berth
Nothing special: A very simple video

Article originally published in SWZ|Maritime September 2022

Through the years, the Dutch Pilots have developed a system of selection, initial education and continual professional training. What is the current state of affairs?