134th UKMPA Conference

This important topic is still underestimated in shipping! Can you trust your GPS? Your Galileo? Knowing where the ship is and where to sail next is the main task of navigating a ship and is commonly supported by using Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). But what happens if the GNSS gets intentionally disturbed?

Editors note:
Pilot Boat "Döse" built by A&R

One of the biggest ships in the world, 23,000+ TEU container ship MSC MIA, contacted gantry crane while leaving container terminal at Valencia, Spain, in the morning Sep 13. Crane collapsed, crane operator sustained injures and was hospitalized.

Flying from Shortlands, following the beautiful HM Orc 181 "Nepean" Flying to the very edge of VLOS helped by the elevated position in the carpark, also helped by a good strong coffee from Hesse St! Little known fact, when I was a small child I went out in the Pilot boat from (dad recalls) Gem Pier in Williamstown! I only remember being a bit scared and that's about it. Learn about the Port Phillip Sea Pilots here - https://www.ppsp.com.au/story/ Learn more about the pilot boat here:...

Video showing marine pilot navigating a cargo ship from Plan du Port

The arrival of machine learning and artificial intelligence has taken efficiency to a whole new level. Software platforms can now suggest maintenance routines, recommend spare-part changes, and even predict breakdowns of machinery.

Shown here is some footage of a pilot boat that was recently expertly delivered by our driver Declan to A Coruna from Cork. This load was 4.85m high, 24m long and 4.2m wide overall. It takes a great team coordinating from our office to organise the shipping, escorts and permits here in Ireland and Spain in order to make Declan's job a bit easier. It then takes the drivers expert hand to ensure that the load arrives safely and you can be sure in using Whitten Road Haulage that our years of...

Pilot Boat build by Abeking & Rasmussen, Germany.

Article and pictures by Captain W J M Hargreaves, Retired Southampton Pilot