Marine Pilot

Marine pilots must make crucial decisions under extreme conditions. Transferring from a cargo ship to a small pilot boat in hurricane-force gusts can be fatal. For marine pilots, this is the most dangerous moment in their daily working lives: climbing down a rope ladder from a cargo ship in gale-force gusts, and transferring to a small pilot boat. In mid-January, a pilot fell into the sea off Borkum and was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. Just a few days earlier, a British...

"Analysis of reports indicates that pilot ladders (Pilot Transfer Arrangements, or PTAs) and
intentional deviations from safety procedures remain the main causes of near misses..."

MAIB says: "This analysis indicates that 99.6% of pilot transfers while underway were completed safely and without incident or accident during 2022."

It will replace the "Coatham" pilot vessel which will now find a new home at the Port of Tyne after racking up 800,000 miles servicing the River Tees over a 20-year period.

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.

Williams Shipping has added a new vessel to its port-service fleet in the Solent, UK as demand rises in the maritime hub.

The pilot boys on the river Haven.

Before you, you see my third article on pilot boarding arrangements. After my two previous articles
(‘1000 ways to secure a pilot ladder’ and ‘1000 ladders around’, I have received a lot of feedback and
also questions to get deeper into the matter of combinations and embarkation platforms.

16m Pilot Boat "Sever" built by Holyhead Marine in 2012. Length 16.5m Beam 5.3m Draught 1.3m Main Engines Twin Scania DI16 600 BHP @ 1800 RPM Transmission Twin Disc “Quickshift” MGX-5135SC Gearboxes Propellers Five bladed Maximum Speed 26 knots Client – Sydney Ports Corporation, Australia.