Master Mariner with long experience on SUEZ MAX, VLCC, LPG VLCG, and LR2

Congratulation to Ahmed Sati for 8,000 moves!

What does a pilot do? Job description

Correct method of rigging pilot ladder explained.
As explained, a large number of reports related to the use of pilot ladders which are too long relative to the vessel’s draughts. As a result, the excessively long ladders require shortening up before being deployed for boarding pilots. In these cases, ship crew shortens the pilot ladders, using D-shackles to choke the side ropes at the required height along the ladder’s length. In this method, the D-shackle is first secured to a hard point...

Safehaven Marine build a range of vessels for many different operational roles such as patrol, survey, crew transfer to name a few, but what makes Safehaven unique is that we specialize in pilot boats, with 80% of our production dedicated to just this area, and have supplied over 50 pilot craft all around the world over the last 17 years.

Tampa Bay Pilot

Tug boats and a digger struggle to free a mega cargo ship, blocking one of the world's busiet shipping pathways.
Dozens of ships are stuck because a container ship almost half a kilometre long is wedged across the waterway.

Qualified pilots are usually employed by the local port or maritime administration, and provide their services to ships for a fee, calculated in relation to the ship’s tonnage, draught or other criteria.

This is a short video of the Hamburg Pilot boarding Queen Mary 2. These people make it look easy but, it is a dangerous manoeuvre.