Assistant Harbour Master/Pilot

Maritime pilots trace the roots of their profession back to the ancient Greeks and Romans when incoming ship captains employed experienced local fisherman to guide their merchant vessels safely into port. It’s a legacy of skill, strength, and sharp wits, and our Houston Pilots (“Pilots”) have been meeting vessels at Galveston’s bar to carry on these proud traditions for just shy of 100 years.

A harbor pilot has the difficult job of bringing ships into port. A candidate for Albay Yacht Club has invited me to document the process. I went with Jud, the harbor pilot.

The Seminar aims to inform Member States, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations in consultative status with IMO about the societal value of maritime pilots and pilotage as a public service. The IMO Secretary-General has recognised maritime pilots as having always been vital to ensuring the safety of navigation in key ports and shipping lanes globally and playing a crucial role in sustaining the global supply chain using specialized knowledge and expertise....

M/V PILOT 68 (CHEOY LEE shipyards 17m Self-righting Pilot Boat)

July 21st 2022, a thrilling day for me when I met up with the Foyle Pilots and was given a tour and a trip out on pilot vessel Foyle Leader 2. I was in the company of Coxswain Tommy McDaid and several other pilots, I was taken out past tall ship Grace O'Malley then we collected the pilot from a cement carrier called Cemluna, then back to Greencastle, it was a fantastic experience. Many thanks to Tommy and the crew for making this happen. www.nightskyhunter.com

The LNG carrier ‘Genesis River’ collided with a 297-foot-long tank barge being pushed ahead by the 69-foot-long towing vessel ‘Voyager’, spilling petrochemical cargo into the waterway and capsizing a barge.

In 2006 I was invited to join Port of London Pilot Capt. Tom Miller on one of his last few voyages before his retirement. A pilot cutter ferried us from the Gravesend Port office to the Port of London Terminal where the Hebridean Spirit waited for us to board. Once aboard, the ship's captain manoeuvred the vessel off its moorings and into the channel. After handing the vessel over to Capt. Miller, the Captain joined the ship's company for dinner, and the first offer and a helmsman remained...

Practical samples for manoeuvres for ships going astern - as Stern-First-Method SFM. Introduction using as sample from the Master Thesis by Karel Wiegert for an arrival manoeuvre of a cruise vessel in Southampton port with a Twin-screw vessel under strong current. The same manoeuvre with the same ship model was used to show the advantage of Fast Time Simulation FTS using the SAMMON Planning Tool. This goes much faster than the manoeuvres in the real time simulator - and it can even be...

Captain Bronson Stubbs discusses what harbor pilots do

Recently, Svitzer took an important step towards strengthening its presence in Africa by signing a five-year contract with Nacala Logistics in Mozambique for harbour towage, occasional pilot transfer and potential salvage work in the port of Nacala. At the same time, Svitzer also secured a five-year extension of its current contract with Egyptian LNG assisting the land-based Idku LNG plant with four tugs, two mooring boats and one pilot boat.