June 2023 Edition of New Zealand Pilot Magazine published

Video AIS Track by Nolan Dragon - www.MarineTraffic.com What had happened: Container ship APL MEXICO CITY broke off her mooring at Doel, Antwerp, in the afternoon Dec 9, drifted across harbor and contacted DP World pier crane. Crane collapsed and was totally destroyed. No injures reported. Cause of the accident (according to the report from FEBIMA): "The allision of the mv APL MEXICO CITY with a gantry crane at the Port of Antwerp on 9 December 2019 stemmed from exceptional meteorological...

A good working relationship with the pilot, effective Master Pilot Information Exchange at the start of the pilotage followed by well performing Bridge Resource Management during the pilotage passage, are important factors in a successful pilotage.

Port operations, whether these are being performed on water or on land, are often not without risk. Pilots boarding a ship while sailing, navigating through narrow passages, collision avoidance with other smaller or larger vessels, discharging and moving cargo on land, walking between container handling equipment and trucks…

Poseidon Sea Pilots (an AMS Group subsidiary) invited our CoastGuard team to check out the new Pilot boats that are operating out of Mooloolaba.
These Pilots work night & day escorting large ships in and out of the port of Brisbane.

OHB subsidiary LuxSpace’s satellite for global ship monitoring has reached its target orbit.

A counterfeit ladder is a pilot ladder that purports to be a genuine approved ladder, from a manufacturer that has been certified by an approved body in the manufacture of pilot ladders to a certified standards.

Every airport needs its air traffic control but what about the ships in our seaports? Here’s how Port Authority’s VTS teams keep watch 24/7 to keep shipping safe in New South Wales, Australia. ••• Port Authority of New South Wales manages the navigation, security and operational safety needs of commercial shipping in Sydney Harbour, Port Botany, Newcastle Harbour, Port Kembla, Eden and Yamba. With over 6,000 visits from trade and cruise vessels each year, the ports of New South Wales...

It has been shown that a majority (51%) of pilot ladders is secured by means of D-shackles, when secured at intermediate length. Previous research (Evans, 2020) has proven that this method has only about 50% of the strength of the pilot ladder when secured at full length (“double ended ladder”), or by means of the “endless-sling” method.

In this video we can see how a pilot boat (probably Barcelona) approached the vessel to disembark the pilot.

I have had the privilege of being at quite a number of meetings, conferences and seminars, sometimes representing The Netherlands, but mostly representing the Netherlands pilots. I have had many discussions about the role of pilots and pilot organisations, which lead me to write an article “What is the added value of pilotage?”, published in the February 2020 issue of Seaways.