The pilot ladder shouldn’t be a killing ladder!

There are many things in both our everyday and professional lives which we take for granted and never question the origins of, an example of this might be the IMPA recommended ‘pilot mark or pilot line’, which is sometimes seen on the side of vessels indicating where a vessels freeboard exceeds 9 metres.

During the transit time on the pilot launch between the shore and the vessel, marine pilots will spend at least a portion of that time carrying out (either consciously or subconsciously) a risk assessment of the forthcoming operation.

Over the past few years a number of pilot transfer accidents have occurred resulting from total failure of the side ropes, one school of thought is that the methods of securing a pilot ladder is a factor in such occurrences.

Here’s a nice little video of rough weather sea trials that coincided with ‘Storm Agnes’ last week in the Interceptor 48 pilot boat ‘Svitzer Oued Laou’. The storm produced some pretty big waves at the entrance to Cork Harbour, and strong winds during the height of the storm. We managed to capture some cool footage from Roches PT lighthouse. It was fairly rough, although by not coinciding with the ebbing tide conditions aboard were quite comfortable, and our Pilot 48 handled it effortlessly...

UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has published grounding and recovery of a container feeder vessel and a tug in the approaches to the Humber Estuary in storm force conditions on 15 December 2018.

MAN Engines is equipping nine pilot boats from the shipyard Goodchild Marine Services Ltd. in Norfolk, Great Britain, with in-line six-cylinder engines. This is the engine manufacturer's first entry into the British pilot boat segment.

Pilots boarding the M/V Hodaka Galaxy with the San Francisco Bar Pilots.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

Pilot Boat in Action
Westerschelde Vlissingen NL
Access to Antwerpen