Marine Pilot

The pilot boat next to the ship after dropping off the Harbour Pilot

The Port of Townsville, northern Australia’s largest multi-cargo port, is expanding its fleet of pilot boats to four.

The Port has awarded Hart Marine a $3 million contract to build a 17.3m ORC vessel that is due for delivery later in 2020. The new high-tech vessel will be slightly longer but have the same design features as the PV Osprey which was delivered by Hart Marine in late 2017.

The Bahamas has imposed a compulsory maritime pilot rule for all vessels, including cruise ships, at its ports since September 2025.

Malta Maritime Pilots

The Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis has released Marine Safety Alert 05-21, to notify mariners to a potentially dangerous situation involving corrosion of the turntable pin on accommodation ladders.

Goodchild Marine won the order to manufacture and deliver the vessel in 2023 to increase Briggs Marine’s fleet to six ORC-class pilot boats.

REACH AND RESCUE PRODUCT VIDEO

Research on hydrodynamic interaction indicates that if the speed of the ship near a bank is too high, the rudder may be less able to cope with the forces induced and control will be lost. The Nautical Institute highlights this in its latest Mars Report, in which an LPG carrier hit a barge being towed by a tugboat as a result of hydrodynamic forces.