A containership collided with a Pilot boat inside taipei harbour

off Taipei, bit choppy seas

A 35-year-old male sea pilot of the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) fell into the sea from a crude oil tanker near the N Shed Wharf in the port of Durban. A rope of the pilot ladder is said to have snapped for an undetermined reason when the man disembarked while leaving the crude oil tanker which was leaving the port of Durban.

AMSA notes with concern that since November 2017 several pilots’ lives have been placed at risk, in six separate incidents where man ropes have parted, or its securing point has failed. In addition, AMSA regularly receives reports and complaints about non-compliant pilot transfer arrangements

On this episode of What's Going On With Shipping, Sal Mercogliano examines the National Transportation Safety Board's Report on the capsizing of the roll-on/roll-off vehicle carrier MV Golden Ray in St. Simons Sound, Georgia on September 8, 2019.

Port operations, whether these are being performed on water or on land, are often not without risk. Pilots boarding a ship while sailing, navigating through narrow passages, collision avoidance with other smaller or larger vessels, discharging and moving cargo on land, walking between container handling equipment and trucks…

Going down the accommodation ladder with neither lifevest nor safety line must have been based on similar, past, successful operations, which may have never been challenged on board. This ‘slippage’ in safety is a pernicious and common phenomenon.

Occurrence Brief from the ATSB (Australia)

Testing Self-righting properties of the new Kewatec Pilot 1630.

This Standard for Health Assessment of Marine Pilots (NSW) represents a significant step in
the improvement of shipping safety in NSW. Introduced in October 2009, this Standard is the result of extensive

Connaissez vous le métier de pilote maritime ? Rencontre avec Gabriel Charpentier à Sète dans l'Hérault. Lorsque les navires de plus de 55 mètres arrivent dans un port, les pilotes maritimes prennent le relais du commandant. Ils ont la responsabilité de faire entrer ces gros bateaux par tous les temps. Lors d'une escale, ils sont les premiers à monter à bord en pleine mer sur une échelle de corde de neuf mètres.
Reportage de Cybèle Plichart