Thursday 5th March – The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has issued brand new guidance for the global shipping industry to help combat the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The comprehensive 22-page document has been produced in collaboration with prominent international bodies.

Information about Corona, COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.

What events and meetings for Maritime Pilots are scheduled? Which events are canceled or postponed?
An overview on Marine-Pilots.com:

Pilot Training requirements were reviewed afer the ship hit the seabed amd tugs damaged in Bluff Harbor.
South Port in Bluff has accepted the Transport Accident Investigation Commission's recommendation and reviewed its systems.

Commencement of the Open Testing phase for Pilot-Guard.org, a platform designed to enhance the safety of maritime pilots through effective deficiency reporting and data exchange.

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

What happens when GNSS fails? In maritime navigation, this isn’t a hypothetical scenario – it’s a growing risk. Spoofing, jamming, and GNSS outages are increasing, especially in the Baltic Sea region. A failure can cripple navigation systems – with potentially serious consequences.

As we all know there is a new regulation established since July 2012, this new regulation refers to pilot transfer arrangements. There are other yearly safety campaigns such as IMPA that include SOLAS V.23 and IMO Resolution A 1045 and Resolution A.1108(29). Unfortunately, in this annual overview there were some accidents reported that could have been avoided.

Self-Righting Test Fast Pilot Launch for Dutch Pilots. Test executed by Holland Diesel Maassluis and Scheepswerf Made for Nederlands Loodswezen. Location: Port of Maassluis

Captain Jonathan Tennant has been called a hero for his decision to intentionally ground the Golden Ray, keeping it out of the main shipping channel.