Marine Pilot Apprentice

This expert article is based on a presentation given by Capt. Pilot Sven Stemmler at the MCN's (Maritimes Cluster Norddeutschland e. V. ) event ‘On the Future of the Pilot Profession’ at Fraunhofer CML in Hamburg on 9 September 2025.

Improvements to pilots’ situation awareness (SA) in maritime navigation are critical to reducing human errors, which have caused 75% to 96% of marine accidents over the last few years.

The PLA welcomes Sathar Sulaiman and James Kitney as they join as Trainee Marine Pilots.

Good initiave: A very good summary about Pilot Ladder commpliance by BW group.
Some are aware and are going the extra mile for the safety of pilots, a big shout out for those who do! Worth reading.

In March the Slovenian Government has concluded a contract with the state-owned Kopp Izobraževanje company to provide maritime piloting services in the port of Koper as a public service. So far these services have been provided by private company Piloti Koper.

NAUTITEC as a maritime simulation and training centre offers various services for shipping companies, port authorities, captains and for pilots and tug crews.

PSA Marine (Pte) Ltd (“PSA Marine”) joins the global movement towards sustainable shipping by reducing carbon footprint with the use of a digital solution – Vessel Pilot Communication (“VPC”), launched on 25 August 2020. With VPC, PSA Marine ensures that critical and timely updates on pilot boarding times and traffic conditions in and around the pilot boarding grounds are communicated to vessel masters.

Goodchild Marine have designed an MOB recovery platform system that can be fitted to existing vessels or incorporated into new constructions.

Shiphandling discussion about meeting and overtaking situations in a close quarters situation where hydrodynamic effects will come into play between ships. The lecture continues and discusses Bank Effect.

Here’s a nice video of the ‘Independent Vision’ having her pilot embarked offshore by the Cork pilot boat ‘Failte’ an Interceptor 48 before she enters Cork Harbour. We also undertook some alongside handling trials at the same time with ‘San Cibrao’ before she is shipped to Spain. Sure was interesting trying to land the drone back on the boat in the 40kt winds offshore!