Pilot / Berthing Master

A routine station watch turns surreal as a massive container ship slowly emerges from dense fog. We board the pilot, complete the transfer, and watch the vessel disappear back into the mist.

The Brightlingsea Harbour Commission of Essex, UK, recently took delivery of a new pilot boat built by Seaward Boat Development Company based on the Isle of Wight.

I have had the privilege of being at quite a number of meetings, conferences and seminars, sometimes representing The Netherlands, but mostly representing the Netherlands pilots. I have had many discussions about the role of pilots and pilot organisations, which lead me to write an article “What is the added value of pilotage?”, published in the February 2020 issue of Seaways.

"Although this should not happen, pilot ladders sometimes suddenly slip one step. Always grip the sideropes firmly and you can handle this!"

Award winning 15m wavepiercing pilot boat

Day shift for duty pilot in Gibraltar on 15th October 2016

Klaipeda is one among few seaports in Europe, where maritime pilots are able to carry out operations in remote mode. As it is attempted to avoid contact with other persons as much as possible during the quarantine, several trials have already been performed in the seaport. They revealed that such assistance for the vessels sailing in Klaipeda Port is effective and safe.

Stabilisers are used to reduce the amount of roll experienced by large ships.
In this video, we look at a few different stabilisation techniques. We investigate how different methods work and how successful they are at reducing a roll.

The IMPA safety campaign will be running from 1st to 15th October 2021.