Connor Foss Pilot Boat in Astoria

The Bridgemans Services Group has taken delivery of a new search and rescue (SAR) boat that can also be used for pilot transfer, firefighting, and pollution response duties.

The Associated Federal Pilots in Metairie, LA, has ordered a Chesapeake Class pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. The pilots’ first launch, built by the Mass.-based shipyard, is scheduled for delivery in July 2021.

Many consider the Bristol Channel pilot cutter to be the finest sailing boat design ever. Fast, seaworthy and beautiful to behold, the pilot cutter is the perfect combination of form and function - a thoroughbred perfectly adapted to a life in one of the Britain's most treacherous stretches of water. Sailor and writer Tom Cunliffe explores the life of the pilots and sails a perfectly restored cutter to find out just what drove these men and their wonderful machines.

APL Belgium in rough water near the Farallon Islands pilot station.

The Pilot Boats captured in and around the waters of Victoria Canada c 2022 LSAC

At Humber Maritime College we have state-of-the-art marine simulators to teach our Merchant Navy cadets in an environment close to reality, preparing them for a career at sea.

Port Everglades Pilot Carl Mahler boarding the Submarine USS New Hampshire SSN 778 in rough weather.

New guidance for PBAs with trapdoors. Released 4.11.2020 at NZMPA Conference in Dunedin, NZ. Distinct difference to suggestions in many other countries, is that we challenge operators who have the ladder suspended from the accommodation ladder (gangway) and not secured to the ship. SOLAS states that pilot ladder shall be secured to the ship, and securing strongpoints, shackles and ropes shall be as strong as the sideropes.

Despite clear regulations and regular maintenance requirements, safety often falls by the wayside, as the current example of a bulk carrier vividly demonstrates.

Over the course of 4 days this August, I was afforded the opportunity and privilege of riding with the Savannah Bar Pilots for an article I was writing for a major maritime magazine. The pilots are given the responsibility of boarding a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean and safely navigating the vessel up the Tybee Road 9 (a name for the shipping lane that leads into the Savannah River), into the Savannah River, and into the Port of Savannah. The same is done in reverse when a ship is outbound...