Maritime Pilot - Ras Laffan - Qatar

Pilot boat build by Safehaven Marine

Ever wonder how Pilots board a massive container ship at sea? Well, like this!
This is done year round in every major Port around the world, in all types of weather.

Eray Demirkol, one of the pilots of the Dardanelles Strait General Directorate of Coastal Safety, fell from the pilot ladder into the sea while he was boarding the 176-meter bulk carrier 28653 DWT named "Lord Nelson".

Apparently there were two crew members on board, but no pilot. One of crew was recovered and declared dead, another one, skipper of the boat, is missing.

Coast Guard air and surface rescue crews at Sector San Juan responded and assisted the distressed M/V Island Express Wednesday afternoon, after the ship started taking on water when it departed the Port of San Juan for storm avoidance in anticipation of Tropical Cyclone 9.

03.06.2023 Pilot boat docks at historic steam icebreaker Szczecin, for Kiel Canal Lock Brunsbüttel

Tune in to the latest episode of the People in maritime with special guest Arie Palmers, an experienced maritime pilot.

Tag along as we journey through Suez Canal into Mediterranean Sea.
The ship is on a 77 days voyage from Asia to East Coast United States in which we've taken the Suez Canal route. By using Suez Canal instead of around cape of Africa, this will save more than 5000 miles of fuel and time.
The time-lapse was taken over 16 hours.

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.

"A routine pilot task"