Loadmaster & Marine Pilots

Does the growth of ships ever have limits? Perhaps less in shipbuilding than in the handling of the ships during piloting.

A container ship is reported to be stranded off the coast of Gibson Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Marine Tracker lists the ship as the Ever Forward and that it is aground. It appears there are several tugboats out of Baltimore trying to assist. The company that operates the ship, Evergreen, is the same one that was responsible for the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal a year ago.

The Virginia Pilot Association has added a new high-speed pilot launch to its fleet, delivered by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. This marks the tenth vessel built by the Somerset, Massachusetts yard for the association since 1983

Required tug power and number of tugs needed in variable conditions of wind, current and waves isin most cases an assessment made by pilots based on their professional experience. However, assessments will raise questions by lawyers if something goes wrong. They will use tools to calculate what really is needed with respect to tug power and number of tugs. They have furthermore the advantage of time.

A Filipino crew member of a Capesize bulk carrier HELLASSHIP fell into water while trying to assist pilot boarding bulk carrier in rough weather, off Gijon, Spain.

The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority has suggested a possible mistake by the captain of the Ever Given could have led to the grounding of the giant container ship in the waterway last month.

USCG Station Yaquina Bay in Newport, OR
Surf Training from 12/19-1/20

The General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI), a port operating company under the Iraqi Ministry of Transport, recently began operating a new catamaran pilot station vessel built by Colombo Dockyard (CDPLC) of Sri Lanka.