USCG Safety Alert on Handhold Stanchions

PTR Holland® are aware that certain parties have copied and supply, low-quality imitations of our rope ladders through several ship-chandlers in Rotterdam, Houston, Greece and in Turkey.

It is frequently a Maritime requirement for a ship to employ and have onboard, a Ships Pilot when entering port. His/ her presence will greatly enhance the safe docking of a vessel into port, harbor or to an anchorage.

Jacobsen Pilot Service and Los Angeles Pilot Station published a notice to all ships to inspect pilot ladders before the pilot boards.

Reason is an incident happened at the port of long beach in July 2020. Pilot ladder rope broke while the pilot was on the ladder - luckily the pilot was able to hold on.

Despite clear regulations and regular maintenance requirements, safety often falls by the wayside, as the current example of a bulk carrier vividly demonstrates.

Grounding container vessel Shahraz and MV Samudra Sakti in Singapore Strait May 10 2020
What happened?
MV "Shahraz" and MV "Samudra Sakti I" had run aground to the shallow Batu Berhanti in the Indonesian territorial waters within 6 minutes, which is surveyed with minimum water depths of 8.3 m in the northern part and up to 0.5 m in the southern part . It is located south of TSS Singapore Strait’s eastbound traffic lane.
A chain of events which must be described as extra ordinary rarity....

The United Kingdom Maritime Pilots Association (UKMPA), is the representative professional body for Maritime Pilots in the United Kingdom. Almost every ship entering or leaving a port, is required under UK law to engage a duly Authorised Maritime Pilot, who either boards the vessel in port or at sea and takes conduct of the safe navigation of that vessel. This undertaking is critical to protecting the country’s national infrastructure and environment from damage or pollution, supporting the UK’s economy, and ensuring the safe, timely and efficient movement of all trade.

Case Study Video:
BHP - a global mining company and port owner – asked us to develop a test set-up to see what happens during a snapback event and evaluate their safety protection fence. The test data helped in the development of a safer protection fence and gave real insight into snapback behaviour.
Collaboration with BHP, Geobrugg and Wilhelmsen.

We do not put videos of accidents on our website out of voyeurism. We would like to point out that the work of a pilot is always dangerous, especially when embarking and disembarking!
These incidents should be a warning. It can hit anyone out of carelessness.
Dear pilots, please always be mindful and always think of your safety!

Primeiro teste da nova profundidade do canal de Vitória (ES). Os práticos Evandro Oliveira Daquino e Rafael Amorim Sobreira realizaram a manobra de saída de navio com 11 metros de calado. Ambos participaram do estudo prévio realizado no Tanque de Provas Numérico da USP. O prático Fabio Andrade Batista dos Santos também esteve presente na faina, sem ônus, como avaliador. Ele fez todos os registros da manobra, como a menor profundidade medida ao longo do canal etc.

Pilot disembarking the cruise ship