Harbour Master Fremantle & Kwinana

This what a normal work day looks like for a port pilot.
A 24 hour shift shown in 11 minutes.
Recorded in Santa Marta, Colombia.

This video explores the question of why ships are so difficult to manoeuvre in reverse.

Footage showing the ARCADIA leaving Tilbury Landing Stage and PLA pilot boarding sugar ship bound for Thames Refinery. footage taken from the documentary short film ' Till I End My Song'

#PilotVessel "SEA MASTER"/ On board #GeneralCargoShip "BBC MONT BLANC" #JP #Recalada #RioDeLaPlata/ 12th. April 2025 - 07:47 Local Time.- On this video (with original sound), you can watch the moment in which the Pilot Vessel "SEA MASTER" arrived to the Port Side of the General Cargo Ship "BBC MONT BLANC" (Approaching Maneuver) to Disembark the Rio de la Plata Pilots, from that vessel, at the #BoardingStation​ #JP​ #Recalada​ #RioDeLaPlata​.- This video was filmed on board the following...

Welcome to the #2021SAFETY4SEA Virtual Forum! On DAY 3 we are navigating through… Forum Agenda 0:00 - Intro 0:06:38 - Panel #7 Ship Safety – Dry Bulk 1:10:38 - PPT: Loss Prevention, Capt. Konstantinos G. Karavasilis 1:23:20 - PPT: Digital Loss Prevention, Capt. Martti Simojoki 1:36:35 - Panel #8 Ship Safety – Tankers 2:38:02 - PPT: Balancing between automation and people: the Future of Maritime Training, Mrs. Joanna Eugenia Bakouni 2:47:16 - PPT: Training & Development: Lessons Learned from...

In the pre-dawn hours and many other times of the day, local pilots safely guide cruise ships and cargo ships into BVI ports. The pilots provide local knowledge to the ships' captains to ensure safe arrivals and departures. In order to do this, it requires the pilot to climb from one moving vessel to the other. While this maneuver is taking place, the pilot vessel must maintain speed and stay parallel to the ship, allowing the pilot's safe transfer from one vessel to the other. They make...

In just two decades from now, half of all domestic ships plying Japan’s coastal waters may be piloting themselves. That’s the ambitious goal of the Nippon Foundation, a public-interest organization backing the country’s development of ocean-traversing autonomous ships. It aims to see crewless ships make up 50% of Japan’s local fleet by 2040.

#PilotVessel "SEA MASTER"/ On board #BulkCarrierShip "S SAMBA" #KM239_1 #Recalada #PuntaIndioChannel #RioDeLaPlata #Argentina/ 24th. September 2024 - 09:07 Local Time.- On this video (with original sound), you can watch the Pilot Vessel "SEA MASTER", arrived at #KM239_1 #Recalada #boardingpoint #PuntaIndioChannel to disembark the Rio de la Plata Pilots. This video was filmed on board the following Vessel: Bulk Carrier Ship "S SAMBA" - Call Sign: V7IU6 - IMO Number: 9712486 - Flag: MARSHALL...

We have reached Port Said at the northern end of the Suez Canal. Could not have been a more enjoyable adventure. Thank you Suez Canal Authority for the two excellent pilots, specially Emad, and the support specially at Ismailia.
Editor's note:
Other countries, other habits: especially when it comes to safety standards. Life jackets, for example, are not to be seen here.

This article was first published back in February 2022: According to the International Group of P & I Clubs’ “Report on P&I claims involving vessels under pilotage 1999-2019”, over the last twenty years, there were 1,046 incidents in which pilot error either caused or contributed to those events.