Podcast: Marine pilot support staff help make it all happen

The breakaway and subsequent grounding of oil products tanker CSC Friendship in the Port of Brisbane highlights that port infrastructure and associated shipping can be exposed to dynamic hazards, which includes the inherent uncertainty of extreme weather forecasts.

Issues like the Covid 19 crisis and the moves towards increased autonomy appear to be driving a renewed interest in Shore Based Pilotage (SBP), nowadays often called Remote Pilotage.

This article was first published back in February 2022: According to the International Group of P & I Clubs’ “Report on P&I claims involving vessels under pilotage 1999-2019”, over the last twenty years, there were 1,046 incidents in which pilot error either caused or contributed to those events.

Review of Capt. Paul Lobo's book "Crossing the bar". The valet parker for ships: More than 30 years of being a Pilot. Book Review by Bianca Reineke, Germany

off Taipei, bit choppy seas

The transfer from traditional to remote pilotage requires particular consideration of safety issues, and Pilotage Act obligates the pilotage company to ensure that the remote pilotage under development is at least as safe as traditional pilotage, affirms Sanna Sonninen, Pilotage Director.

Wind Balance on straight track - using SAMMON to learn the theory and the effect of rudder and drift to reach the balance in steady state equilibrium conditions on straight track. Limits of steerability will be shown and how turn under strong wind.

Based on MAIB Safety Digest 1/2025, Case 12, published April 2025 by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).

Tanker went out of control after engine failure and collided with general cargo ship in Kiel Canal near Kiel locks, at around 0120 LT Jul 27.

The Savannah Pilots Association of Georgia received a brand-new aluminium pilot boat from Snow and Company, a Washington-based boat-builder.