The Marine Pilots' Network

QPS is pleased to announce that Qastor 3 is now available on iOS and Windows.

This brand new version of Qastor is a multi functional navigation platform, which has been developed, designed and tested in cooperation with world-class pilots. Explore straightforward navigation software with optimal docking and piloting capabilities.

Found on YouTube. Created by "Rick88888888".
Spectacular (silent) film footage of the construction of the Panama Canal more than a century ago.
The film shows the construction of the Miraflores and Gatun locks in detail as well as the digging of "The Culebra Cut" including steam trains, steam shovels and steam dredgers at work and scenes of the locks an the Canal in its first days op operation in 1914.

Wikipedia: The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is an artificial 82 km (51 miles) waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit for maritime trade. Canal locks are at each end to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required for the canal, 26 m (85 ft) above sea level, and then lower the ships at the other end. The original locks, "Miraflores" in the South and "Gatun locks" in the North, are 32.5 m (110 ft) wide.

France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped because of engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate, caused by malaria and yellow fever. The United States took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal on August 15, 1914. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduced the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enabling them to avoid the lengthy, hazardous Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America via the Drake Passage or Strait of Magellan and the even less popular route through the Arctic Archipelago and the Bering Strait.

Thse footage has been motion-stabilized, speed-corrected, contrast- and brightness enhanced, de-noised, restored, upscaled and colorized by means of state-of-the-art AI sofware.
It took over a month to restore and colorize all available footage, our largest project ever!

This restored film is without sound. The reason is the difficulty to find near one hour of suitable music.

Please help to improve this draft Timeline:
00:00 Miraflores Locks in the South
02:10 Steam shovels in "The Cut"
02:26 West Indian workers drill holes in the rock for explosives
03:44 Not every explosion goes as it should...
04:18 Workers along the railway line
05:40 Steam shovels at work
10:10 Steam trains remove the rocks
11:42 Another blast
12:50 Views from a high point of "The Cut"
14:10 The railway tracks
15:07 Freight trains pass a check point
15:50 Special trains push earth and rocks aside
16:47 Close up view of a special train in action
18:21 West Indian workers shift the railway tracks
19:15 Workers climb up the mountain
20:22 Fresh workers arrive by steam train
21:38 Another day ahead for the workers and the steam shovels
24:22 Shifting a huge drum
24:45 More steam shovels at work
25:16 Steam trains with special equipment
25:58 Workers removing rails
26:30 Gatun locks in the North still under construction
26:52 Flooded rain forest forming Gatun Lake
27:19 The huge lock doors have been installed
27:28 Testing floading the locks
28:48 A lock filling up
29:10 Small ships enter the lock
30:05 A train ride along the canal
30:38 Preparing to blow up the last dam
31:07 Spectators gather for the blasting of the last dam
31:58 Opening a huge valve
32:42 Blasting of the last dam
33:18 Water flows into the Canal
33:27 Dredgers enter the Canal
33:44 More blasting along the Canal
34:20 Gatun locks open
35:32 Numerous ships enter the locks
37:10 The next lock chamber opens
38:46 Small boat with dignatories on the Canal
40:33 Views of the Canal and Gatun Lake
41:05 Dredgers at work to deepen the Canal
41:36 More lock views
43:03 Busy scenes at the locks
43:52 Spectators on the opening lock doors
46:01 A pilot rowing boat on its way to receive the ropes of a ship
46:42 Inner lock chamber scenes
47:45 Lock doors opening
48:49 Ship leaving the locks
49:13 More steam dredgers at work
50:02 Close up view of an active steam dredger
50:36 Rubble is released through the bottom of a barge into the lake
51:18 Flushing rubble away with a watercanon
52:40 Dredgers seen from a high viewpoint
53:52 Final views of the Canal

In view of the amount of available enhanced footage, Part-2 will follow shortly!

Found on YouTube. Created by "Future Pilots".

Found on YouTube. Created by "Irelandscapes".

This is Paddy Rooney, Coxswain of the Carlingford Pilot Boat, on the lough which separates County Down and County Louth. The boat operates out of a small jetty at Greencastle - so called after it's Norman castle near the shore and not far from the town of Rostrevor with it's beautiful park and colourful streets. In this film Paddy and his crew rendezvoused with a cargo ship at Greenore Port - which is also a uniquely preserved 1800's railway village .

The Budget is 120.000 Euro. Please send your offers and questions to marketplace@marine-pilot.com

The Los Angeles Pilot Service ordered two customized 56′ Camarc Design pilot boats (P/B) built by Vigor Industrial at their Vancouver, WA facility, located on the northern side of the Columbia River. The LA Pilot Service took delivery of the P/B Angels Pilot and Angels Navigator at Vigor’s shipyard on Swan Island in Portland, Oregon in early October.

An investigation into actual strength of ladders and intermediate securing methods used.
Capt. and Marine Pilot Troy Evans (New Zealand) decided to look into pilot ladder strength and intermediate securing arrangements after MNZ put out what he felt was a confusing and unclear document about securing of pilot ladders.

Found on YouTube. Created by "HIMT".
Recorded presentation by All India Marine Pilots Association (AIMPA) on the topic "Pilot Ladder safety and Pilot Transfer procedures"

Found on YouTube. Created by "Marine-Pilots".

Container ship CMA CGM MISSOURI ran aground in Suez Canal while transiting in southern direction, at around 0930 UTC Oct 14. As of 1745 UTC, probably refloated or moved, several Suez Canal tugs attending. Traffic probably suspended, but it’s not confirmed. No information on what caused grounding.
Container ship CMA CGM MISSOURI, IMO 9679919, dwt 115600, capacity 9448 TEU, built 2016, flag Liberia.

As a navy veteran with seven years experience, mainly on strike craft, Devan Pulliah joined Transnet in 1997 to become a tug master in East London before being enrolled in Transnet National Ports Authority’s class of 1999 to help change the future of the maritime industry.

The following article appeared in AIMPA magazine number 2 about the strength and testing of pilot ladders : There is much more information about pilot ladders in the AIMPA magazine, second issue, if you wish to read more you can download a copy at the bottom of this post.

Found on YouTube. Created by "Deano C".
The Cosco Shipping Galaxy alongside Felixstowe Berth 9 cargo operations come to an end with the cranes beginning to boom up. Mooring gang in attendance and the tugs begin to go to station. The pilot requests for both to make fast on the centre lead fore and aft. Svitzer Kent makes fast centre lead aft while the Svitzer Sky makes fast centre lead forward. The Sky comes under the bow to pick up the heaving line but the crew slackens the head lines before the last crane had boomed up. Sky manages to get the heaving line so they tie their gear onto the line to be winched onboard onto the bollard. One of the crew members signals to the Sky to say they were fast forward. Kent makes fast aft once a couple of lines were let go.

The pilot gives the order to single up to springs. Once VTS had given clearance to depart, the springs were released and Kent builds to a 50% pull away from the quay, Sky forward builds to 50% aswell before the Kent increases to full power. After a while, the pilot gets the Sky to go all easy.

As the Galaxy moves away from the berth box, the pilot runs the engine astern to back her further into the channel. The pilot begins to use the bow thrusters and then gets the Sky to build to a full pull to get the bow onto a southerly heading. Kent drops in astern as the pilot runs the engine ahead, Sky eases and comes in to let go from forward.

Once the Sky had been released they move around to the port quarter to escort around them around the corner if the Galaxy got into difficulty. Safely around the Corner both tugs were released.

Two decades ago, candidates were selected for TNPA's accelerated training programme in Rotterdam, which aimed to train a new generation of ship pilots, managers and other maritime professionals.