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.

The Spring 2022 edition of our magazine The Master, Mate & Pilot is available online.

Following in a long line of ever more refined and very seaworthy vessels, this small example of a Safehaven pilot boat has been chosen for operations on and around Scotland’s Cromarty Firth.

The All India Maritime Pilots' Association has released its new journal for March

During a meeting on 4 December 2024, the International Hydrographic Organization Nautical
Information Provision Work Group (IHO NIPWG) held a vote on the new Guide for Nautical
Data 2.1. The guide was unanimously endorsed.

Brief snapshot of a day in the life of a Humber marine Pilot.
This was filmed a few years ago, 2019 I think.
Some standards and best practices have changed since then, for instance I would not have my bag on my back while using the pilot ladder now, I would send it down using a heaving line.
#MarinePilot #shiphandling #pilotage #ships #timelapse #humber