Difficulties Of Embarkation

Over the past few years a number of pilot transfer accidents have occurred resulting from total failure of the side ropes, one school of thought is that the methods of securing a pilot ladder is a factor in such occurrences.

Video by Maksym Kunchev. Thank you!

August 2022, tanker Thun London and Foyle Leader pilot vessel. www.nightskyhunter.com

The Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis has released Marine Safety Alert 05-21, to notify mariners to a potentially dangerous situation involving corrosion of the turntable pin on accommodation ladders.

This lady came into port in an excellent day, however when I inspected the pilot ladder prior to board I saw that it was rigged using D-Shackles fastened between the side ropes, transferring all the weight and load of the ladder to the clamps and chokes. Truly an unsuitable method of securing the ladder. Retrieval line was also not above the first spreader
After pulling out the pilot boat, the ship was contacted by VHF and the captain was asked to instruct the crew in the usage of ropes and...

Drydocking or undocking is always a difficult task, particularly with a “dead” vessel (no power/propulsion) and the wind blowing on the ship's side.

What happens when GNSS fails? In maritime navigation, this isn’t a hypothetical scenario – it’s a growing risk. Spoofing, jamming, and GNSS outages are increasing, especially in the Baltic Sea region. A failure can cripple navigation systems – with potentially serious consequences.

The latest edition of The New Zealand Pilot has been published (link in article).

AIMPA organised a competition to author a Research paper on Pilot ladder - risk mitigation innovation and alternatives to Pilot Transfer arrangement.