Marine Pilot

Captain Jonathan Tennant has been called a hero for his decision to intentionally ground the Golden Ray, keeping it out of the main shipping channel.

Required tug power and number of tugs needed in variable conditions of wind, current and waves isin most cases an assessment made by pilots based on their professional experience. However, assessments will raise questions by lawyers if something goes wrong. They will use tools to calculate what really is needed with respect to tug power and number of tugs. They have furthermore the advantage of time.

Here’s a nice video of the ‘Independent Vision’ having her pilot embarked offshore by the Cork pilot boat ‘Failte’ an Interceptor 48 before she enters Cork Harbour. We also undertook some alongside handling trials at the same time with ‘San Cibrao’ before she is shipped to Spain. Sure was interesting trying to land the drone back on the boat in the 40kt winds offshore!

The San Juan pilot boat coming next to our ship.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

The ETA Nautical Technical Committee has worked together with the European Maritime Pilots Association in order to define a series of recommendations for tugboat captains, pilots and harbour masters which will help them optimise the energy efficiency on the tugs and the assisted vessels during harbour towage operations. These recommendations are based on 3 main principles: Planning, Cooperation and Communication.

The International Users Group of ISPO-certified pilot organizations (IUG) congratulates Midwest Port Pilots on gaining its ISPO accreditation.

#MaidenVoyage #HMMalgeciras
The maiden voyage of HMM Algeciras #10-Hamburg: Look at the sunrise in Hamburg, Germany. The city awakes, but the port never sleeps. The HMM Algeciras, the first largest containership in the world, bids farewell to Hamburg.

Jet propulsion and an intergrated rescue system.
The boat is in a really good shape!

Welcome to the next episode of "Pilot Talks..." by AIMPA.
Hosted by Capt. Vijay Sharma, Master Mariner @capt.vijay along with Co-Host Capt. Gajanan Karanjikar, President of AIMPA. Special Guest: Capt. Henk Hensen.