Pilot and Marine Engineer

The transfer of pilots to and from seagoing vessels should not rely solely on mutual trust and good intentions.

Here is the latest version of the professional handbuch of "pilot Ladder Safety" for the rigging and the use of pilot ladders by Herman Broers from July 2021.

When a vessel navigates in confined waters, such as in a harbour or narrow channel, it is well known among experienced pilots that the ship handling is greatly affected by the hydrodynamic forces and moments acting between ship and bank or sidewall of the channel.

The Pilots’ Association of the Bay and River Delaware have ordered another pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. It’s the pilots’ association’s fourth Chesapeake Class launch and eleventh pilot boat built by the Somerset, Mass., shipyard since 1957. Delivery of the new pilot boat is scheduled for 2024.

A Pilot Boat alongside a Cruise Ship

Brightlingsea Harbour - a mixed leisure and commercial port on the East Coast of England
has recently signed contracts with Seaward to have a new pilot boat built, The demands of Pilot duties as well as working as a patrol boat and harbour launch, and the sea conditions that can occur in the area made the Nelson hulled Seaward the natural choice of vessel.

A bridge team’s lack of effective monitoring of their position while at anchor led to a cargo ship hitting an anchored bulk carrier and striking a chemical dock on the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) marine accident brief.

by "Domonkos Baráth" on YouTube.
Boarding with pilot ladder to Soyo LNG tanker near Cadiz

These are images that no one wants to see. How can people take such a risk and behave so unprofessionally? Purely a matter of luck whether you come home again in the evening!

Most pilot embarkations and disembarkations around the world, are still carried out using a traditional pilot ladder, consisting of wooden steps supported and secured by side ropes.