Interview with Charlie Sarafian, New Caledonian marine pilot

On this episode of What's Going On With Shipping, Sal Mercogliano - former merchant mariner and maritime historian at Campbell University - we compare and constrast the grounding and salvage of MV Ever Forward (March 13, 2022) with that of MV Ever Given (March 23, 2021).

Tuesday, October 1st is the start date of the latest International Maritime Pilot Association's annual Safety Campaign.

Previous campaigns by the association have consistently shown results of pilot ladder deficiencies around the 20% mark.

In this episode, we are joined by Arie Palmers, a maritime pilot with over 16 years of experience. Arie provides an in-depth overview of the safety and challenges faced daily by maritime pilots. Check out Arie’s LinkedIn profile for access to the "Weekly Ladder Misery", where you’ll find golden insights into the safe practices that maritime pilots should follow. We’ll cover crucial topics such as: 1️⃣ Challenges and dangers of being a maritime pilot 2️⃣ Understanding good practices for...

Based on MAIB Safety Digest 1/2025, Case 12, published April 2025 by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).

"Although this should not happen, pilot ladders sometimes suddenly slip one step. Always grip the sideropes firmly and you can handle this!"

This article was first published in January 2022: The safety aspects of the maritime autonomy solutions need to be addressed. In order to develop maritime autonomy in the first stage in Finland, the Sea4Value / Fairway (54VF) research program has been established to create automated remote fairway pilotage features in the near future.

On 1st April 2022 Brazil Pilots - Praticagem do Brasil - will organize a webinar about dangerous ladder with speaker Arie Palmers.

Safehaven Marine undertook an 800nm 4 day cruise in Thunder Child II to Scotland, living off the boat to visit a place called the Gulf of Corryvreckan. A pretty wild yet beautiful place. The Corryvreckan whirlpool, or ‘Maelstrom’, as would be a more appropriate description, is formed as the tide enters the narrow stretch of water between the Islands of Jura and Scarba that is the Gulf of Corryvreckan. Here the tidal flow speeds up to 8.5kts as it is squeezed between the islands, and there...

Harbour pilots perform tricky operations boarding big cruise ships from fast pilot boats. Auckland and Malta.