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Safety of Navigation vs. Commercial Pressure / ROMEILs Tv Commercial Pressures impacts the safety of the vessel, study says Seafarers are pressured to keep quiet and keep the ship moving by ship operators, who dont want to lose inccome. Ship's officers who bring safety issues to the attention of management are exposed to the risk of retaliation. As whistle-blowers they may face punishment, demotion or even termination. International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P) has...

I had a fun opportunity to get some drone content of a ship getting underway from the port of Guayania Puerto Rico.

In early December, just as I was starting to get into ship spotting, I saw a couple of vessels headed up river towards Philly. One of them, the Cielo di Iyo met with the harbor pilot right as I had my drone up. I was able to capture the Pilot coming to meet the vessel and CLIMBING the ladder to get on board just before she passed beneath the Walt Whitman Bridge.

The plug-in diesel hybrid pilot boat's hull is be based on the established ‘ORC’ design, a unique ‘beak’ bow design, which gives it unmatched all weather capability and typically uses 40% less diesel per nautical mile than convention hulls.

The arrival of machine learning and artificial intelligence has taken efficiency to a whole new level. Software platforms can now suggest maintenance routines, recommend spare-part changes, and even predict breakdowns of machinery.

Archival footage shot by an amateur filmmaker while heading Turkey with a ferry in August 1969.
It contains stock footage of Brindisi, a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy: passengers relaxing in the deck of the ship, the pilot boat driving the ferry to the port, ships docking in the port, Brindisi waterfront including the Roman pillar marking the end of the Via Appia route, and more.

This expert article is based on a presentation given by Capt. Pilot Sven Stemmler at the MCN's (Maritimes Cluster Norddeutschland e. V. ) event ‘On the Future of the Pilot Profession’ at Fraunhofer CML in Hamburg on 9 September 2025.

This article was already published on 05.01.2022: This study sample consists of a group of healthy middle-aged maritime pilots (n=20), who have been exposed to highly irregular work schedules for more than 15 years.

Capt Ertan Ozgur, Various maneuvering and Pilotage, time-lapse records from Gemlik Bay

The use of historical navigation data by ports is essential for safety investigations globally. In the digital age, a wealth of pilotage data is available, aiding operations and training but potentially causing stress if misused.