Picture by AMSA
There have been several recent incidents where manropes have failed whilst pilots have been using the pilot boarding arrangements.
AMSA would like to remind shipowners, operators, masters, crews, recognised organisations, marine pilots and pilotage providers of the importance of safe pilot transfer arrangements.
Operators should pay particular attention to the condition of manropes, ongoing maintenance and how they are stored to ensure they remain in a safe condition.
Jacobsen Pilot Service and Los Angeles Pilot Station published a notice to all ships to inspect pilot ladders before the pilot boards.
Reason is an incident happened at the port of long beach in July 2020. Pilot ladder rope broke while the pilot was on the ladder - luckily the pilot was able to hold on.
The Nautical Institute (NI) and the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA) have been concerned for many years at the needlessly high rate of Pilot Ladder casualties. The NI is continuously reminded of the problem from its Members and through its Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme (MARS). The issue features frequently in our publications, and we recently dedicated an edition of our award winning magazine The Navigator to the topic, emphasising the importance of good...
Wind was blowing strong from the NE and the waves were becoming bigger and bigger by the time we reach a new client.
Crew didn't consider the rolling effect about to happen while changing heading in order to give lee when they prepared pilot ladder, so the requested 1.5m above the water was not that good.
I decided to abort and to give the vessel the chance to shorten it. In the next attempt they did it right and I was able to board safe
Some impressions from a sail on the Falmouth Pilot Cutter Pellew in October 2021. The Pellew was built by Luke Powell and his team in Truro at https://www.workingsail.co.uk/ between 2017 and 2020.
Trips on Pellew can be booked through Venturesail on their website https://venturesailholidays.com/voyage-finder
