Jacobsen Pilot Service and Los Angeles Pilot Station publish notice to all ships

On the back of the long-standing success of the Yellow-Mag ll Pilot Ladder Magnet worldwide, Serpent & Dove—Applied Magnetics is introducing its patented Yellow-Mag lll Switchable Pilot Ladder Magnet.

The Nautical Institute (NI) and the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA) have been concerned for many years at the needlessly high rate of Pilot Ladder casualties. The NI is continuously reminded of the problem from its Members and through its Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS). The issue features frequently in our publications, and we recently dedicated an edition of our award winning magazine The Navigator to the topic, emphasising the importance of good...

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s (MAIB) has published their latest annual report showing that pilot ladders remain a safety issue for workers.

Since the late 2000s, a debate has been sparked on the most suitable age of retirement for Korean pilots. The debate has focused on the extension of retirement age of pilots from 65 to 68 and whether this will affect the probability of marine accidents.

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.

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.

In Novorossiysk (Russia, Black Sea), a marine pilot died during a pilot transfer and an investigation has been launched. The incident occurred on the evening of 14 March at about 21:40.

The United Kingdom Maritime Pilots Association (UKMPA), is the representative professional body for Maritime Pilots in the United Kingdom. Almost every ship entering or leaving a port, is required under UK law to engage a duly Authorised Maritime Pilot, who either boards the vessel in port or at sea and takes conduct of the safe navigation of that vessel. This undertaking is critical to protecting the country’s national infrastructure and environment from damage or pollution, supporting the UK’s economy, and ensuring the safe, timely and efficient movement of all trade.

SOLAS/IMO/IMPA Regulations require additional safety measurements for pilot's boarding and disembarkation since recently. These magnetic holders of two types, one is manually set and the other is a remotely controlled one, fixes both pilot ladder and accommodation ladder (gangway) strongly onto the hull of the ship. Thus, the pilot can climb more safely. We are negotiating with ISO, IMO, IMPA etc in order to standardize these items for pilot safety.

Pilot-in-the-Loop simulations embedded to a high-resolution maritime environment.