Pilot Ladder Simulator

Pilot boat picking up two pilot crewmen from odyssey of the seas cruise ship port of civitavecchia Italy 🇮🇹

Recording of cruise ship Pilots boarding from boat at speed

For nearly 150 years, the Bar Pilots have protected our environment by safely guiding ocean-going vessels through our waterways.

It turns out that supertankers and cruise ships have valets. They're called maritime pilots, and they're among the most elite ship handlers in the world. So where does one go to learn how to park the largest ships in the world? To the Maritime Pilots Institute in Covington, La. There, they use mini-versions of the behemoth boats to teach the basics. All aboard!

After a number of cruises in which I have watched with admiration and fascination as the harbor pilots do their magic. This is a short video showing the operation upon the departure of the Sapphire Princess from Kleipeda, Lithuania in the summer of 2026.
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When the bow thruster has been in operation for a while, pilots often notice that the ship not only turns but also gains speed. But why is this? Opinion by Capt. Hugues Cauvier.

In December 2022, a week-long innovation camp was organized in Turku Finland, in which 16 students from the University of Turku, Novia University of Applied Sciences and five different universities in Singapore participated. Pilotage operators Finnpilot from Finland and PSA Marine from Singapore acted as industry partners.