Pilot Vessel Tribulation

Cairns based Pilot Vessel underway outbound 19/9/21

Caught at Cuxhaven, Germany

Pilotboat Galveston boarding Unit #6 inbound to Texas City. Seas got a little spicy today. 🌊🌊
#galtexpilots #gladdinghearn #pilotboatgalveston #goprohero11 #rammounts #galvestonpilots #ship #legend #crowley #ATBLEGEND #TUGANDBARGE

Sanmar Shipyards has signed six vessel contracts together totalling US$33.46 million with the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) in Pakistan for four high-performance state-of-the-art tugboats and two pilot boats. The tugs are scheduled to be delivered in 12 months and the pilot boats in 10.

Delta Launch Services, the operating company for the Associated Branch pilots on the SW Pass of the Mississippi, has taken delivery of a new pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. This is the sixth St. John’s Class launch built for the Delta pilots by the Somerset, Mass. shipyard.

Pilot cutters are used to take pilots between the three pilot stations (at Gravesend, Harwich and Ramsgate) and ships entering or leaving the Port of London.
Three dedicated pilot cutters Patrol, Guide and our hybrid Leader are based at Gravesend. The six cutters used at Ramsgate are operated by a Estuary Services Limited, which is jointly owned by the PLA and Medway Ports Ltd.

At least ten people died and 251 were injured in a chlorine gas leak from a storage tank at Jordan's Aqaba port, officials and state media reported on Monday, as authorities called on residents to shut windows and stay indoors. The leak came after a tank filled with 25 tonnes of chlorine gas being exported to Djibouti fell while being transported, officials said. A video posted on state television's Twitter page showed a storage tank falling from a winch and slamming into the deck of a ship,...

In our new new section “Five questions for ..." Marine-Pilots.com introduces pilots and other market players to our readers in short interviews.

Today we have talked to Olli Taipale, Chief Pilot at Finnpilot.

The smart fairway digitalization pilot is a part of the EMMA Extension project that is funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme. This summer, 34 smart buoys were installed in the Saimaa deep fairway, which is Finland’s most important inland waterway for merchant shipping.
Safety is enhanced in particular by the fact that the pilots and VTS can adjust the light output of beacons and the rhythm of lights to support the navigation of vessels in poor visibility and weather conditions....

We were lucky to come across the Tom Crean whilst offshore putting some hours on the Interceptor 60 pilot P&O Sahm. Taking the opportunity to undertake some alongside handling trials, we captured some cool footage of Tom Crean pushing through the waves.