Picture: Training in Bremerhaven, Germany.
Published by BLK in cooperation with HPS
Since 2019, the German Federal Pilotage Chamber (Bundeslotsenkammer, BLK), in cooperation with Hamburg Port Services GmbH (HPS), has been offering a three-day safety training course specifically designed for maritime pilots and pilot boat crews at a training center in Bremerhaven, Germany.
This safety course was explicitly established by the Bundeslotsenkammer for pilot training purposes. On the one hand, it was recognized that STCW-compliant courses only partially cover the specific risks and challenges associated with pilot transfer operations. On the other hand, no safety training provider in Germany was able to offer a course suitably tailored to the needs of maritime pilots.
This course, developed by pilots for pilots, hopefully reduces the number of accidents (see recently published BSU Investigation Report 50/23). The objective of the course is to raise awareness of hazardous situations and to equip all participants with the knowledge and skills required to act correctly in emergency situations.
For this purpose, the following topics are addressed as realistically as possible, both theoretically and practically:
Published by BLK in cooperation with HPS
Since 2019, the German Federal Pilotage Chamber (Bundeslotsenkammer, BLK), in cooperation with Hamburg Port Services GmbH (HPS), has been offering a three-day safety training course specifically designed for maritime pilots and pilot boat crews at a training center in Bremerhaven, Germany.
This safety course was explicitly established by the Bundeslotsenkammer for pilot training purposes. On the one hand, it was recognized that STCW-compliant courses only partially cover the specific risks and challenges associated with pilot transfer operations. On the other hand, no safety training provider in Germany was able to offer a course suitably tailored to the needs of maritime pilots.
This course, developed by pilots for pilots, hopefully reduces the number of accidents (see recently published BSU Investigation Report 50/23). The objective of the course is to raise awareness of hazardous situations and to equip all participants with the knowledge and skills required to act correctly in emergency situations.
For this purpose, the following topics are addressed as realistically as possible, both theoretically and practically:
- Pilot ladders: Exercises in an indoor water training facility under conditions of darkness, wind, spray, and simulated sea state. Particular emphasis is placed on the transfer from the pilot boat to the ladder and from the ladder onto the ship’s deck, using a simulator specifically designed for this purpose. The simulator can be reconfigured flexibly to represent standard deck access arrangements as well as access points that have been involved in past accidents, thereby increasing participants’ awareness of potentially hazardous situations.
- Personal protective equipment (PPE), in particular lifejackets and helmets. As each pilot in Germany is personally responsible for their own PPE (pilots are self-employed), basic knowledge is provided to enable pilots to select appropriate equipment. Subsequently, a wide range of lifejackets and helmets currently available on the market can be tested in a swimming pool under challenging conditions (waves, darkness, spray, and wind). Various buoyancy classes and accessories (sprayhoods, crotch straps, emergency lights, lifelines), as well as different backpacks and weighted bags, are available. Between 50 and 60 lifejackets are inflated during each course.
- First aid training specifically tailored to accidents occurring during pilot transfer operations, using actors realistically made up to simulate injuries, requiring participants to apply the theoretically discussed measures in practice.
- Practical exercises with local pilot boats, conducted as realistically as possible using a dummy. On a voluntary basis, course participants may also jump overboard and be recovered.
- Evacuation from a capsized pilot boat or a helicopter as part of the practical pool training.
- Electronic rescue aids (AIS MOB, PLB), which are presented and tested live.
- Introduction to pilot boats used by the participants, including a discussion of onboard safety equipment. A general overview of recovery systems and pilot boats currently available on the market is also provided.
- Lecture on survival in cold water
- Analysis of accident reports
