PILOT

It has been 1 month since the 1st case of coronavirus in the country. All airports were shut down, and mandatory confinement was issued 10 days ago. Nevertheless, Maritime shipping must continue (except for tourist related). The means that us pilots must continue with our duties despite the risks involved with all the ships' crews arriving from different countries. So we need to take all safety measures possible.
This particular maneuver was unberthing a chemical tanker, in loaded...

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

Svitzer, A.P. Moller - Maersk’s world leading towage operator, today unveiled plans to introduce the world’s first fuel cell tug boat for harbour towage operations.

On Monday, March 23, 2020, Admiral Osama Rabie announced the successful transit of the Italian passenger ship COSTA DIADEMA in the northbound convoy through the new Suez Canal, coming from the United Arab Emirates heading to Italy. Special measures were applied, as 65 Coronavirus cases were reported on board which required piloting the vessel remotely through pilotage team boarded on two escorting tugs in full coordination with the transit control offices and navigation monitoring stations in a first of its kind scenario in the history of the Suez Canal.

A more unique angle regarding freighter departures; I was able to film the routine disembarking of one of our local ship captains and officers after piloting Solina out of the harbor. This is a required procedure, as per US Maritime Laws, all international freighters must be piloted in and out of a US harbor by a US Captain. Here we have out local pilot vessel Sea Bear running up alongside the Solina to allow the two officers to depart the freighter before she heads out across Lake Superior

Australasian Marine Pilots Institute (AMPI) latest of edition of Safe Passage including articles from Nic G. "Passenger Ship Redundancy", Karolina Cirjak "Pilots are not advisors to the Masters", Clive Sheard "Digitising Pilotage Peer Learning", Arie Palmers "A 1000 Navy Vessels Around", Matthew Conyers "Meanwhile in Brisbane", Robert Tanner Wollongong Conference.

Pilot Cutter 19.6m for sale with Boatshed Wales - https://wales.boatshed.com/pilot_cutter_196m-boat-311150.html Photos and video taken by Boatshed Wales

The PDF of the second issue is available for download here

Swedish Radio News reports about major delays for shipping on Sweden's inland lakes and waterways, such as Vänern, Mälaren and Göta Älv.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.