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.

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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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Article Study: Correlation Evaluation of Pilots’ Situation Awareness in Bridge Simulations via Eye-Tracking Technology

published on 21 January 2022

Improvements to pilots’ situation awareness (SA) in maritime navigation are critical to reducing human errors, which have caused 75% to 96% of marine accidents over the last few years.

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Article IHO Nautical Information Provision Work Group endorses Guide for Nautical Data 2.1

by IHMA - International Harbour Masters Association Secretary IHMA - published on 30 January 2025

During a meeting on 4 December 2024, the International Hydrographic Organization Nautical
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Data 2.1. The guide was unanimously endorsed.

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Video Simplified Vector Approach for POD forces – samples and limitations

published on 23 February 2022

This movie belongs to the operation of ships with POD propellers and discusses the approach for using a vector model from only the pods’ thrust forces as resulting force to imagine the potential effect of the pods on manoeuvring motion.

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Video SWATH vs. Mono Hull

published on 21 December 2019

Challenge between SWATH tender "DÖSE" and two 30m mono hull vessels in 2013.

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Video GoPro Sticker Tips: Time-lapse vessel videos with telemetry data widgets

by River Pilot Kris De Decker - published on 29 September 2021

Tips by Captain Kris.
kris@mes.de
krisdedecker

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Article NZ Taic releases Report on 2018 Bulker grounding in Bluff Harbour

by Baird Maritime - published on 16 October 2021

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission of New Zealand (TAIC) has released its report on the incident involving the grounding of a foreign-flagged cargo vessel at Bluff Harbour on November 28, 2018.

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Video Pilot Boat DEURLOO (Westerschelde Vlissingen - NL), Access to Antwerp

published on 30 May 2025

Pilot Boat in Action
Westerschelde Vlissingen NL
Access to Antwerpen

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