Departing Miami on Norwegian Sky & Pilot Boat

A pilot boat entering the port of Miami.

Here’s a nice video of ‘Miami’ the Interceptor 48 pilot we built for the Biscayne Bay Pilots, Florida on sea trials, with Voyager helping out as the camera boat.

A patrol boat of the Navy of Venezuela sank in international waters after apparently shooting and ramming a German cruise ship. Allegedly the "Resolute" was to be diverted off course.

Correct method of rigging pilot ladder explained.
As explained, a large number of reports related to the use of pilot ladders which are too long relative to the vessel’s draughts. As a result, the excessively long ladders require shortening up before being deployed for boarding pilots. In these cases, ship crew shortens the pilot ladders, using D-shackles to choke the side ropes at the required height along the ladder’s length. In this method, the D-shackle is first secured to a hard point...

Boarding a vessel at sea is no simple task. This video provides detailed instructions and demonstrations about safe boarding of vessels.

Since 2022, there is a solution in Germany that helps pilots to report defects in pilot ladders or pilot transfer arrangements quickly and easily. The apps are available for Android & iOS.

Issues like the Covid 19 crisis and the moves towards increased autonomy appear to be driving a renewed interest in Shore Based Pilotage (SBP), nowadays often called Remote Pilotage.

On the occasion of the Maritime Safety Week (July 4-10), UK MAIB’s inspector Bill Evans refers to the issue of unsafe pilot ladders, a concern that has been regularly voiced by the industry.

On November 17th 2020 Port Everglades Pilot Mark Ruppert brought the ship Zhen Hua 25 into Port Everglades. The ship was loaded with 3 huge gantry cranes, a crucial part of the port expansion project.
Found on YouTube. Filmed and produced by Captain Carl Mahler
Editor's note: Great video but where is the life jacket? 1:36

This is one common method to board the pilot. And here it is a special boat which is very fast with new technology