By 2001, the Houston Pilots led the way in hiring minorities and women, and a few years later it formed a nonprofit called Anchor Watch, to offer scholarships to maritime students in need and boost opportunities for minority and women candidates. Captain Holly Cooper joined the Houston Pilots in 1994 as the group’s 151st pilot and the first woman to begin training as a deputy.
A pilot boat caught fire near the entrance of the Port of Recife, on Saturday morning (15 January). The fire would have started around 11h. In a note, the port authority explained that the two people who were in the pilot boat were rescued by another pilot boat "Serrambi".
The causes of the accident had not yet been identified, but would be investigated.