New guidance for PBAs with trapdoors. Released 4.11.2020 by NZMPA

The next step for NZMPA is to issue a set of regulator-endorsed guidance notes. The first version will focus on accommodation ladders used in conjunction with pilot ladders.

ABP Southampton: NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that some ships have a pilot transfer arrangement consisting of an accommodation ladder / pilot ladder combination with a trapdoor that does not meet IMO standards in effect since at least 2012.

On August 5, 2020 at approximately 10:30 pm, Sandy Hook Pilot Captain Timothy M. Murray was involved in an incident while boarding a tanker vessel inbound to the Port of New York & New Jersey. He sustained injuries after falling from a pilot ladder and was evacuated to a local hospital where his injuries proved to be fatal.

#MaidenVoyage #HMMalgeciras
The maiden voyage of HMM Algeciras #10-Hamburg: Look at the sunrise in Hamburg, Germany. The city awakes, but the port never sleeps. The HMM Algeciras, the first largest containership in the world, bids farewell to Hamburg.

Shri Sanjay Bhatia former Chairman of Mumbai Port and Indian Port Association (IPA) expressed pleasure while releasing the All India Marine Pilots Association’s (AIMPA) maiden Issue of “Marine Pilot’s Journal” and applauded the efforts in taking out this kind of Journal to help highlight issues of pilots.

U.S. Coastgard has published an update of their Recommendation for Pilot Transfer Arrangements in latest Marine Safety Information Bulletins (MSIB).

"Recent deaths of maritime pilots while embarking commercial vessels highlight the risks of operating in an
unforgiving maritime environment. To ensure the safety of all personnel boarding a vessel at sea, the Coast
Guard reminds vessel owners and operators of the requirements contained in the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter V, Regulation 23 and strongly recommends that owners and operators follow the recommendations within IMO Resolution A.1045(27) – Pilot Transfer Arrangements. "

The IMPA has published on 30th June 2020 a letter about crew exchange in times of corona. Read the letter here:

Finnpilot’s present six pilotage areas will be merged to form four pilotage areas. New District Managers have been appointed to head the pilotage areas. At the same time, an Operational Executive Committee will be established for Finnpilot. The organisational change, which was planned in close co-operation with the personnel, will take effect on 1 October 2020.

While in many western countries of the world, pilots there have already been preferentially vaccinated against COVID-19, pilots in other countries such as Malaysia are struggling to get vaccinated.