Opinion Bow Truster Effect on Ship's Headway

by Capt. Hugues Cauvier - published on 14 July 2022

When the bow thruster has been in operation for a while, pilots often notice that the ship not only turns but also gains speed. But why is this? Opinion by Capt. Hugues Cauvier.

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Opinion A Corrected Version on Positioning of Pivot Point

by Capt. Santosha K. Nayak - published on 18 November 2020

Understanding the fundamentals of the pivot point is highly required for understanding the alteration of the courses. Pivot point is an imaginary point on the vessel which turns on a circular path on the perimeter of vessel’s turning circle when the vessel makes a turn. The knowledge about the position of the pivot point in a manoeuvring situation provides the ship handler with the information on the geometry of motion of the ship.

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Opinion Scientific Fact: The ‘traditional’ understanding of the ship’s pivot point is wrong!

by Tim Cummins, Harbour Pilot, Portsmouth International Port - published on 9 July 2020

In fact, the pivot point that we “see” is a trick of the eye, it looks like the ship is rotating about this point but in fact it is elsewhere, a point that you cannot see.

Related content

Video Bow thruster effect on ship's headway 1

by Capt. Hugues Cauvier - published on 14 July 2022

What is causing the forward motion of a stopped vessel using continous bow thruster action?
by Capt. H. Cauvier

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Video Hugues Cauvier: Understanding the ship's pivot point (complete video)

by Capt. Hugues Cauvier - published on 3 September 2024

This video has been recut and edited by the creator Hugues Cauvier. Previously there were three episodes, which have now been combined into one.

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Video How to Launch a Pilot Boat–Behind the Scenes at Point Hope Shipyard

published on 20 June 2025

Welcome to Point Hope Shipyard in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In this video, I follow the float off of the Pacific Navigator, a hardworking pilot boat that serves the Port of Victoria and Ogden Point. We watch as the vessel is pulled along the marine railway, rotated on the turntable, and positioned onto the cradle. Once secured, the cradle lowers to float-off depth, and the Pacific Navigator fires up her engines for a short harbour spin before returning to duty. Some segments,...

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Video Serious Injury to Pilot video by Maritime Training Services

published on 13 December 2019

Serious Injury to Pilot delves into a real-world incident that resulted from a lack of attention to detail. A pilot falls from a ladder due to negligence.
Visit https://maritimetraining.com/Course/Serious-Injury-to-Pilot to purchase the full-length version.

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Article Overview of Associated British Ports Marine Pilot Apprenticeships

published on 8 November 2020

by Rhys Davies, current Apprentice. Published already in Feb. 2020 by ABP.

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Article VR Maritime Training Webinar: Case study into a Virtual Reality (VR) Shiphandling project

published on 28 March 2022

Nautical Institute webinar, 13:00 – 14:30 UTC on Thursday 31st March, 2022.

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Video Boston Pilots

published on 29 July 2024

I'm Bradley Jay, long time Boston broadcaster, and I also love to produce videos of interesting people doing interesting things. Meet the Boston Pilots They do one of the the coolest jobs ever .

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Video Marine pilot apprenticeships - British Associated Ports

published on 5 October 2019

Information video: How to become a Marine Pilot.

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Article Kiel Canal, Germany : Freighter rams Kiel lock gate on Sun 14th Mar 2021

by Frank Diegel - published on 14 March 2021

An accident occurred in the Kiel Canal lock at Kiel-Holtenau. A freighter crashed into the gate of the north chamber on Saturday. The Kiel Canal is the busiest man-made waterway in the world.

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Article Swimmer killed by Pilot Boat: The ports of Auckland are fined $424,000

by Marine-Pilots.com - published on 4 August 2020

The Auckland District Court has fined the Ports of Auckland NZD424,000 (USD300,500) for exempting its pilot boats from speed limits in Waitemata Harbour after a swimmer was struck and killed (April 2017).

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