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.

Video showing marine pilot navigating a cargo ship from Plan du Port

Rotorcraft Pro gives an inside look at Brim Aviation's Columbia River Bar Pilots helicopter ops. CRBP uses an AW109SP to hoist ship captains onto ships crossing the dangerous river bar in Astoria, OR. This is part of a written/photo feature in the September 2015 issue of Rotorcraft Pro Magazine.

A valuable campaign managed by Chris Young, Kevin Vallance and others, which we found on Facebook .

AIMPA in association with IMU has organized a Research Paper Competition (SAMIPTA) for cadets of MTI from all disciplines on Pilot ladder risk mitigation and suggest innovative measures to Mitigate risks.

Associated British Ports (ABP) the UK’s largest and best-connected port operator, has commissioned a fleet of nine new state-of-the art pilot boats from Goodchild Marine Services, representing an investment of around £9 million to further enhance port operations across its network.

Maersk will begin implementation of an innovation called Snap Back Arrestor (SBA) ropes on the mooring lines used to hold vessels in place while docked in port for loading and unloading. Mooring is one of the most dangerous aspects of port and vessel operations.