Like many seafarers I have long been a keen follower of The Nautical Institute’s MARS programme, and along with many other members I listened to the recent webinar on that topic. One theme which was repeated more than once was that it is better to learn from someone else’s misfortune rather than have it happen to you. Having personally been involved in two near misses resulting from unsafe pilot transfer arrangements in a relatively short space of time, I asked how experiences and knowledge specifically about pilot ladder safety could best be promulgated to avoid repeating common accidents or near misses.

The US Coast Guard "Safety Alert 04-22" has been released. The alert addresses the importance of verifying the correct arrangement of handholds in embarkation gate arrangements aboard merchant vessels.

What do you think about this unusual manoeuvre here?

Editors note: There was a reason why this idea of a kind of ladder-elevator did not become accepted!

by Casual Navigation

M/V PILOT 68 (CHEOY LEE shipyards 17m Self-righting Pilot Boat)

by Rhys Davies, current Apprentice. Published already in Feb. 2020 by ABP.