Pilot Boat "Puffin" at Yarmouth

KITTIWAKE ( MMSI 232008570) is a Pilot and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) Here she is speeding down the River this morning.

Leaving Honningsvåg Norway aboard the Nieuw Statendam cruise ship in May 2023. Video shows the Pilot leaving the ship.

Testing Self-righting properties of the new Kewatec Pilot 1630.

Southern Engineering Co. Ltd (SECO) recently secured a contract from the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) to construct and deliver three pilot boats.

Pilot disembarking the cruise ship

The term pilot is defined as, “a person who is qualified and usually licensed to conduct a ship into and out of a port or in specified waters.” The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 states that, “a pilot is any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof.”

The United Kingdom Maritime Pilots Association (UKMPA), is the representative professional body for Maritime Pilots in the United Kingdom. Almost every ship entering or leaving a port, is required under UK law to engage a duly Authorised Maritime Pilot, who either boards the vessel in port or at sea and takes conduct of the safe navigation of that vessel. This undertaking is critical to protecting the country’s national infrastructure and environment from damage or pollution, supporting the UK’s economy, and ensuring the safe, timely and efficient movement of all trade.