Incident on 31 January 2020 : A rope of the pilot ladder breaks. Pilot could still reach the vessel

From that moment on I have been keeping a tally of the non compliant boarding arrangements I see in front of me on a daily base, and off course I participate in the annual safety campaign, conducted by IMPA each october.

A 35-year-old male sea pilot of the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) fell into the sea from a crude oil tanker near the N Shed Wharf in the port of Durban. A rope of the pilot ladder is said to have snapped for an undetermined reason when the man disembarked while leaving the crude oil tanker which was leaving the port of Durban.

Before you, you see my third article on pilot boarding arrangements. After my two previous articles ‘1000 ways to secure a pilot ladder’ and ‘1000 ladders around’, I have received a lot of feedback and also questions to get deeper into the matter of combinations and embarkation platforms.

A Filipino crew member of a Capesize bulk carrier HELLASSHIP fell into water while trying to assist pilot boarding bulk carrier in rough weather, off Gijon, Spain.

On 30 March 2023, a fatal accident occurred in the North Sea near IJmuiden during a pilot transfer from the pilot boat to a seagoing vessel.

The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority has suggested a possible mistake by the captain of the Ever Given could have led to the grounding of the giant container ship in the waterway last month.

Container ship MADRID TRADER ran aground in fairway while entering Mar del Plata Port, Argentina, at around 1830 UTC Jan 20, with pilot on board.

IMPA has just released the results of the annual IMPA safety campaign, please have a look at the document.

Who has ever boarded a helicopter? What was the feeling like?