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.

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.

Pilot transfer arrangement is a sensitive topic to be discussed among the pilot’s fraternity. Although ships are designed and operated with compliance to the SOLAS requirements in all respects including the pilot transfer arrangements, there has been numerous deficiencies observed related to pilot transfer arrangements. The small deficiencies from the part of ships cause life threatening accidents for pilots and sometimes to the ship staff themselves. There are many instances of defective ladder and complacency in proper rigging of ladders has been reported almost every day in different parts of the world. Many pilots lost their life, severely injured for life and face many minor to major accidents. The latest incident being the Capt. Timothy Murray of Sandy hooks Pilot.

Each pilot association and each country can get a good overview of how other colleagues approach safety.
Ship crews can see which rules apply in which country.
In any case, this list from IMPA is worth looking through and reading.

Resilience is the hallmark of life. The video, titled Fortitude in Adversities, endeavour to highlight our camaraderie and unity as professionals during this pandemic. As we sail through uncertain times, with our core values of Safe, Professional, Reliable and Efficient, we will continue to keep the port safe and the ships moving. We are the Singapore Maritime Pilots. ~ Total Excellence Creative Team #harbourpilots #harborpilots #maritimepilots #marinepilots #pilots #singaporepilots

The Japanese-flagged container ship ONE Apus has lost 1,816 cargo carriers after it was caught up in a violent storm in the Pacific on November 30, 2020. The vessel arrived December 8 in the Japanese port of Kobe, where shipowners and managers said a full safety inspection would be carried out. The incident is described as the second biggest cargo loss in shipping history.

The scope of this report covers a twenty-year period between 1999 and 2019 in which there were 1,046 such recorded incidents and where each incident gave rise to P&I liabilities in excess of US$100,000.

Report by nC2 Engineering Consultancy at the University of Southampton on behalf of the International Maritime Pilots' Association (IMPA) to investigate the effectiveness and impact of different methods of securing pilot ladders in medium lengths in a laboratory-based project.

Day shift for duty pilot in Gibraltar on 15th October 2016