Fédération Française des Pilotes Maritimes (FFPM)

Discover your true worth, you're not searching for gold, you are the gold!

When I was a deck officer back in the early nineties I worked on a ship that used to load grain at different ports along the Mississippi river. The name of the ship was Golden Hope, a 600 feet long dry bulk carrier with a 95 feet in beam. An average size vessel for those days' standards.

Pilot recruitment has traditionally been based on seniority, and extensive sea experience. However, a more modern approach, hiring younger, motivated candidates with structured training, offers an alternative path with compelling advantages.

Video showing marine pilot navigating a cargo ship from Plan du Port

Footage of Cosco Thailand, a container ship part of the largest class of vessels able to call at the Port of Melbourne, navigating through Port Phillip Heads en-route to the port.

A marine pilot who sadly died after a ‘fall from a pilot ladder’ in the Humber Estuary has now been named. Video credit: BBC Look North/BBC News Hub

This video was produced in September 2013 to provide an easy-to-understand introduction to pilotage in Japan.

Arjen is a pilot in the Amsterdam-IJmond region. A registered pilot is an advisor to a ship. In good or bad weather, a pilot's work always goes on. Interaction between people is an important part of being a pilot.