At one point, the Captain on the Ship while being highly respected, also carried great responsibility and had the ultimate accountability for everything on board. But this respect, responsibility and accountability has not come overnight, or just when the Captain wears his four stripes.

Without a shadow of doubt, shipping is a key enabler of our current way of life and the globalized world we live in today. The irony is that the average person is unaware of the significance or contribution of the shipping industry and how much we rely on ships working without disruption

The arrival of machine learning and artificial intelligence has taken efficiency to a whole new level. Software platforms can now suggest maintenance routines, recommend spare-part changes, and even predict breakdowns of machinery.

Reflections on his work on the Mississippi River (2014)

To monitor the vessel’s progress, the pilot had set up his portable pilotage unit (PPU). He had connected the rate-of-turn generator to the vessel’s pilot plug and had set a variable range marker on the radar with a radius of 0.5 nm.

The pilots make docking mega-ships look easy despite the meteorological disturbance.
Great pictures from Morocco

Ever wonder what it would be like to work on a Tugboat? Come along a for glimpse of one day at work in New York Harbor.

This article was first published back in September 2021: Pilotage operations require close interaction between human and machines. This complex sociotechnical system is necessary to safely and efficiently maneuver a vessel in constrained waters.

To better bundle all articles and messages about Marine / Maritime Pilots I would like to suggest the Hashtag #MARINEPILOTS. We can use it well here on LinkedIn, but also for other social media like Twitter.