14,4 m Pilot Boat, Nekton

Fremantle Ports proudly launched two new locally built pilot vessels that will facilitate efficient ship movements fundamental to the operations of the port.

Shown here is some footage of a pilot boat that was recently expertly delivered by our driver Declan to A Coruna from Cork. This load was 4.85m high, 24m long and 4.2m wide overall. It takes a great team coordinating from our office to organise the shipping, escorts and permits here in Ireland and Spain in order to make Declan's job a bit easier. It then takes the drivers expert hand to ensure that the load arrives safely and you can be sure in using Whitten Road Haulage that our years of...

CMA CGM Columbia container ship arriving from Shekou port, and transiting thru Hong Kong, destination Singapore
a rare capture of TWO harbour pilots boats to carry two pilots leaving off the container ship
Columbia is only a 300m long 48m wide vessel, only 9200 TEU capacity but it has separate bridge tower and chimney. The ship was built in 2015.

We do not put videos of accidents on our website out of voyeurism. We would like to point out that the work of a pilot is always dangerous, especially when embarking and disembarking!
These incidents should be a warning. It can hit anyone out of carelessness.
Dear pilots, please always be mindful and always think of your safety!

Do you ever leave the harbour to get on a vessel you will guide along without a ritual? Whatever we trust in, whatever the rituals or traditions you Marine Pilots have - when you board your pilot boats, climb the ladders, get the vessels through the harbour - keep them and cherish them, they are good and they are important.

June 21, 2021

The following article appeared in AIMPA magazine number 2 about the strength and testing of pilot ladders : There is much more information about pilot ladders in the AIMPA magazine, second issue, if you wish to read more you can download a copy at the bottom of this post.