KITTIWAKE ( MMSI 232008570) is a Pilot and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) Here she is speeding down the River this morning.

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.

We bid farewell to our Otaru marine pilot just outside Otaru Harbor, Japan. The crew of the pilot tug were particularly fastidious about not marking up the side of the Viking Orion during the operations, spraying the interface with water, even though that might have made the transfer more hazardous for the pilot. From the Viking Orion, October 2024

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.

Over the past few years a number of pilot transfer accidents have occurred resulting from total failure of the side ropes, one school of thought is that the methods of securing a pilot ladder is a factor in such occurrences.

A valuable campaign managed by Chris Young, Kevin Vallance and others, which we found on Facebook .

Today Captain Peter Dann (President AMPI) has published an open letter about concerns regarding simulation in lieu of on-water training and the situation in Brisbane.