125 in 125 Seconds: Captain Michael Bopp, Crescent River Pilots (2021)

River Mersey Pilot Boat going slowly inbound on the river before turning and heading northbound again.

These are some of the reliable sturdy Pilot boats of Netherlands and Belgium to bring and pick up Marine Pilots to and from commercial merchant vessels either inbound or outbound. The Marine Pilots are licensed PROFESSIONALS who have a thorough knowledge of a certain port and they guide the Master/Captain of commercial ships in and out of the foreign Seaport. Location: Steenbank Pilot Station, Flushing/Vlissingen Pilot Station, Wandelaar Pilot Station. Boats in order of appearance in this...

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...

In this episode, we are joined by Thijs Hoff, a maritime pilot with over 15 years of experience at sea and 4 years as Maritime pilot. Thijs will take us through the 'how' of becoming a maritime pilot, offering a detailed look at the educational pathways, skills, and work-life balance that come with the role.

Maneuvering Ship

On march 24th, 2022, the bulkcarrier BERGE BIMBERI entered Port of Rotterdam via the Eurochannel. The ship had a draft of 17,6 meters and two pilots were flown in by helicopter for this job. Assisted by Faiplay tugs and KRVE linesmen she eventually berthed at EECV bulk terminal in Europoort, Rotterdam.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

This week, the International Maritime Organization Sub-Committee responsible for developing amendments to SOLAS regulation V/23 and associated instruments (NCSR 11) finalized a new performance standard for pilot transfer arrangements, which is expected to be made mandatory by SOLAS and apply to new and existing SOLAS and non-SOLAS ships from 1 January 2028.

Over the past two years, RightShip has reviewed more than 21,000 PSC inspections, assessed over 2,500 incidents, and inspected over 4,600 vessels. This is in addition to the reviewing a large number of SIRE reports as part of the vetting process. Despite the industry’s efforts and campaigns to educate, we have observed an upward trend in deficiencies and non-conformities involving pilot ladders and arrangements. The data gathered from RightShip Inspections indicates that the pilot ladder...

With approval from the Danish Emergency Management Agency, DanPilot and Danelec are now initiating a test program for remote pilotage – the first of its kind in the world.