Fédération Française des Pilotes Maritimes (FFPM)

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

Lately there has been a considerable increase in opinions of seagoing ship´s masters complaining about pilotage services, expressed whether as LinkedIn articles and comments or in some reputable industry magazines.

On October 11, 2018, the Kristin Alexis was performing fleeting work with a crew of six, including a captain, pilot, and four deckhands (two per shift), at the Cooper Consolidated fleeting facility at Convent located at mile 161.5. About 2300, the Cooper Consolidated dispatcher informed the Kristin Alexis captain that their next job was to move the derrick-type crane barge Mr Ervin upriver to the Cooper Consolidated fleeting facility in Darrow, located at mile 175.

The debate is whether highly skilled pilots could have successfully overcome the recent Boeing 737 MAX computer deficiencies. Will this question eventually be relevant to harbor pilot skills?

Pilot-in-the-Loop simulations embedded to a high-resolution maritime environment.

In early December, just as I was starting to get into ship spotting, I saw a couple of vessels headed up river towards Philly. One of them, the Cielo di Iyo met with the harbor pilot right as I had my drone up. I was able to capture the Pilot coming to meet the vessel and CLIMBING the ladder to get on board just before she passed beneath the Walt Whitman Bridge.

ER88 Sea Trials - 16m Pilot Boat: MED-P16

Ro-ro cargo ship FESTIVO struck pier at Ceuta while berthing on arrival from Algeciras, at around 1300 UTC Jul 6. Cause of accident unknown, both ship’s bow and pier sustained damages.