Sullom Voe Pilot boat out on a task

Pilot cutters are used to take pilots between the three pilot stations (at Gravesend, Harwich and Ramsgate) and ships entering or leaving the Port of London.
Three dedicated pilot cutters Patrol, Guide and our hybrid Leader are based at Gravesend. The six cutters used at Ramsgate are operated by a Estuary Services Limited, which is jointly owned by the PLA and Medway Ports Ltd.

Although it cannot be said that ship piloting is the world’s oldest profession, most maritime experts do agree that pilotage does date back to antiquity.

The Princess Royal toured state of art Pilot Boat that serves the Port of London

According to Briggs Marine: The PV “FULMAR” of Liverpool, an ORC 136 fast Pilot Craft, has been launched at Goodchild Marine Services Ltd.

Here’s some cool video footage we captured of the Cork Pilots in their Interceptor 48 pilot boat ‘Failte’ undertaking pilot transfers off Cork Harbour during the recent days of strong SE gales. Roches Point lighthouse recorded 50kts of wind on the 13th as the Cosco bulk carrier passed and the Cork wave buoy 2nm off the harbour entrance recorded waves to 6.7m at the time. The pilot boat coxwain managed to get alongside and safely disembark the pilot despite the challenging sea state....

The following article appeared in AIMPA magazine number 2 about the strength and testing of pilot ladders : There is much more information about pilot ladders in the AIMPA magazine, second issue, if you wish to read more you can download a copy at the bottom of this post.

Engage Marine has announced that it recently awarded the marine pilot transfer services contract by the Port of Townsville.

Follow me as I travel around the world working on a container ship!
The mega container ship is alongside Kaohsiung for one day, I had 8 hours off between my watch, so i took the opportunity to explore Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Brought along my drone to take some shots at the beautiful architecture that Taiwan has to offer.

This video briefly describes the special operation of transfer of marine pilots at sea

NAUTITEC conducts Basic and Advanced Polar Code Trainings