Pilot

The maiden voyage of HMM Algeciras #8-Rotterdam-RWG: The birds-eye view of the largest mega containership in the world on 3 June 2020. Look at the port-side aspect moored starboard-side in Rotterdam.

Among the few marine professions that purse a man's technical skills and value very high, maritime piloting perhaps is in a class of its own. In this career, the pilot is entrusted to maneuver vessels through some of the most challenging and congested waterways while ensuring seamless integration between shipboard operations and port infrastructure.

OPERATIONAL NOTES AND RECOMMENDATIONS by UKMPA, February 2017
The introduction of modern lightweight Portable Pilot Units (PPU) for use during pilotage has proved to be another major advance for pilotage operations worldwide.

Pilot recruitment has traditionally been based on seniority, and extensive sea experience. However, a more modern approach, hiring younger, motivated candidates with structured training, offers an alternative path with compelling advantages.

Understanding the fundamentals of the pivot point is highly required for understanding the alteration of the courses. Pivot point is an imaginary point on the vessel which turns on a circular path on the perimeter of vessel’s turning circle when the vessel makes a turn. The knowledge about the position of the pivot point in a manoeuvring situation provides the ship handler with the information on the geometry of motion of the ship.

The Port of Tyne on the UK’s north-east coast has announced the purchase of the UK’s first fully-electric foiling pilot vessel designed and built by Artemis Technologies of Belfast.

When a vessel navigates in confined waters, such as in a harbour or narrow channel, it is well known among experienced pilots that the ship handling is greatly affected by the hydrodynamic forces and moments acting between ship and bank or sidewall of the channel.

Drone footage from King's Lynn.

This video shows the underlying principles of the SAMMON software tools based on Fast Time Simulation of manoeuvres. It describes very shortly some of the features for manoeuvring planning and conning / monitoring with danymic prediction which are shown in more detail in the other movies on this channel.