Winter Edition of the BPC Pilotage Quarterly published

This Marine Notice reminds shipowners, operators, masters, crews, recognised organisations, marine pilots and pilotage providers of the obligation to provide safe pilot transfer arrangements.

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Today a look at a special vessel that is commonly seen on the Astoria waterfront: the pilot boat that takes pilots to and from passing ships.

off Taipei, bit choppy seas

What a beautiful manoeuvre! Arrival at Hamburg “Eurogate berth 6”, portside!
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In my most recent article, I talked about how ports are currently faced with disruptive circumstances that severely impact the day-to-day port operations. The COVID-19 situation and blockage of the Suez Canal lead to increased operational uncertainty and a need for ports to endure the situation rather than planning the future.

Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas leaving St Thomas pilot Boat 1/20/22

The entrance to Cork Harbour situated on the South coast of Ireland can produce some pretty extreme sea states during the winter storm months. There are two main factors that influence the sea state at the entrance, the first being the ebbing tide, the second being shoaling waters over the Harbour Rock, this is situated at the entrance to the Harbour off Roches Point lighthouse, right in the middle between the Western and Eastern channel entrances.

Here’s a nice little video of pilotage at the Port of Cork as Safehaven’s Interceptor Pilot 48 ‘Solas’ undertakes pilot transfer with the Grimaldi line ferry ‘Grande Spagna’ in a heavy swell. We captured some fabulous drone footage.

It does not happen very often that we have a Eurochannel bound ship to sea. In this case the MARIA P LEMOS, 333 m with a draft of 20,7 m left Rotterdam underway to the Far East .