Pilot Boat

Returning the Huron Belle to Port Huron for Winter Lay-up

Towage operator Svitzer recently took delivery of a new pilot boat from Western Australia-based boatbuilder Dongara Marine.

In this video I am performing a job on Commencement Bay in Tacoma. I am picking up a Pilot and dropping him off on an inbound ship so he can bring it to the dock safely.

Safehaven Marine have launched another new Pilot boat, there 20th Interceptor 48 and 46th pilot vessel overall for the River Plate pilots in Montevideo, Uruguay. ‘Belgrano’ named after the famous Argentine general, will operate on the River Plate estuary, also famous for being the place of the first naval battle during the second world war, where the German battle cruiser, the Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled.

It remains a sad fact that accidents and near misses continue to occur during pilot transfers with frightening regularity. Most of these fortunately do not result in injury, and a surprisingly high number of them are not even recognised for what they are.

Surveys into pilot ladder safety consistently reveal that unacceptably high numbers of pilot transfer arrangements are not compliant with the regulations.

Ultra Large Container Vessel EVER GIVEN ran aground in Suez Canal north of Suez, at around 0600 UTC Mar 23, shortly after entering Canal in northbound convoy.

Traffic has began to become congested and slowed due to specialized river pilots being mandated to quarantine due to Covid-19 regulations when returning from duties along China’s Yangtze which happens to be the longest river in East Asia.

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.”

Receiving Harbour Pilot before going alongside- Fujairah UAE