Marine Pilot, Auriga Pilots (Reef)

Like many seafarers I have long been a keen follower of The Nautical Institute’s MARS programme, and along with many other members I listened to the recent webinar on that topic. One theme which was repeated more than once was that it is better to learn from someone else’s misfortune rather than have it happen to you. Having personally been involved in two near misses resulting from unsafe pilot transfer arrangements in a relatively short space of time, I asked how experiences and knowledge specifically about pilot ladder safety could best be promulgated to avoid repeating common accidents or near misses.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the International Maritime Health Association (IMHA) and the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO) issued new protocols to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 cases on board.

To monitor the vessel’s progress, the pilot had set up his portable pilotage unit (PPU). He had connected the rate-of-turn generator to the vessel’s pilot plug and had set a variable range marker on the radar with a radius of 0.5 nm.

Shortly after 5 a.m. local time the vessel “Else” had a collision in the Kiel-Holtenau lock to the Kiel Canal.
The "Else" subject to pilotage passed the pilot's boarding position without taking a sea pilot on board and collided from the outside into the closed gate of the new north lock. The bow bored into the metal construction and the ship was stuck for about six hours.
For more information about this accident see related content below (articles).

This video provides the detailed explanation of the phenomenon showed in Part 1 of this topic and a solution for this problem at the end. This phenomenon was recently disocovered by Dr. Steve Shaojie Tang and published in his book by Faiteve inc in 2018. The book info can be found at Faiteve inc https://www.faiteve.com/ The testimony of the captain on duty in the public hearing of Golden Ray capsizing at https://livestream.com/uscginvestigations/events/9252896/videos/211109207 in the time...

Pilotage

On 30 March 2023, a fatal accident occurred in the North Sea near IJmuiden during a pilot transfer from the pilot boat to a seagoing vessel.