SeaSafe - Marine pilot falling off a ships ladder with his integrated life jacket coat

Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) and other individual MOB devices have been available for some years now and have evolved to incorporate a variety of different alerting methods and combinations. However, usage of these additional enhancements within UK Pilotage is still in its infancy.

In our new new section “Five questions for ..." Marine-Pilots.com introduces pilots and other market players to our readers in short interviews.

Today we have talked to Douglas Vincett, Industrial & Technical Sales at Spinlock.

"Rope Ladders" by PTR Holland

Ever wonder how Pilots board a massive container ship at sea? Well, like this!
This is done year round in every major Port around the world, in all types of weather.

Impressive to see how the Cork Pilot boat ‘Fáilte’ draws parallel to the bow of the moving Brittany Ferries ferry ‘Pont-Aven’, as it departs Cork harbour on a warm sunny afternoon, on Saturday, October 3rd, 2020. Cork harbour is a beautiful place, with plenty of stunning views to enjoy, while departing for the open sea, enroute to Roscoff, France. This particular sailing was very enjoyable, though quiet, due to coping with the Corona virus, which was managed excellently onboard. The ‘Pont-...

Wind was blowing strong from the NE and the waves were becoming bigger and bigger by the time we reach a new client.
Crew didn't consider the rolling effect about to happen while changing heading in order to give lee when they prepared pilot ladder, so the requested 1.5m above the water was not that good.
I decided to abort and to give the vessel the chance to shorten it. In the next attempt they did it right and I was able to board safe

PTR Holland Group partners with RightShip to elevate pilot transfer safety through the Zero Harm Innovation Partners Program.

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

In 2006 I was invited to join Port of London Pilot Capt. Tom Miller on one of his last few voyages before his retirement. A pilot cutter ferried us from the Gravesend Port office to the Port of London Terminal where the Hebridean Spirit waited for us to board. Once aboard, the ship's captain manoeuvred the vessel off its moorings and into the channel. After handing the vessel over to Capt. Miller, the Captain joined the ship's company for dinner, and the first offer and a helmsman remained...