Senior Marine Pilot - Deputy Harbour Master

The Nautical Institute (NI) and the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA) have been concerned for many years at the needlessly high rate of Pilot Ladder casualties. The NI is continuously reminded of the problem from its Members and through its Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS). The issue features frequently in our publications, and we recently dedicated an edition of our award winning magazine The Navigator to the topic, emphasising the importance of good...

"A routine pilot task"

In this charterparty dispute, the arbitral tribunal rejected the Owners’ claim for damages for breach of the safe port warranty in a time charterparty, after a laden bulk carrier grounded at the entrance to the port of Chaozhou, China, while under compulsory pilotage. It also held that the vessel was unseaworthy, in breach of Article III.1 of the Hague Rules, due to lack of proper charts, but found on the facts that this was not causative of the grounding.

The United Kingdom Maritime Pilots’ Association (UKMPA) today announced the launch of a major rebranding following the UK’s recent departure from the European Union. The timely changes from a heraldic collection of flags to a modern visual image that more properly reflects an association that is proactive, inclusive and dynamic whilst at the same time maintaining its historical context.

The sun was out and was a beautiful day, I was searching for a light house in the area and there was one in Cameron, La. I started my way to the light house not thinking how bad Cameron was hard hit by two hurricanes. After a few dozen downed power poles I was met with the National Guard and the Po Po. Needless to say I turned around and I had passed the port so I decided to drone this area. Not a bad place and a ship was being assisted by two pilot boats. I never tire with maritime...

With ships as large as 175 feet wide and a channel a maximum of 500 feet wide, how to you safely pass? Former Houston ship channel pilot, Lou Vest, explains how ships fight against hydrodynamics to pass with such narrow margins.
https://houstonmaritime.org

Australian technology provider Frontier Automation has released a new vessel tracking system that can be used as a docking aid tool by pilots. As for all Frontier Automation control systems, it uses 3D machine vision to automatically detect and track in real time shipping vessels within range of a berth by providing information on critical distances to mooring infrastructure, on vessel speed and angle, and on vessel movement directions and orientations.

Occurrence Brief from the ATSB (Australia)

"A performance assessment tool for maritime pilotage operations" - by Jørgen Ernstsen, Norway
When the ship is approaching or leaving a port, a local navigational expert, the pilot, is often provided for assisting the bridge team to safely and efficiently navigate the littoral waters.

Irish boatbuilder Safehaven Marine recently handed over a new pilot boat "Punta Do Cruceiro" to the Port of Ferrol in northwestern Spain