Sullom Voe Pilot boat out on a task

Towage operator Svitzer recently took delivery of a new pilot boat from Western Australia-based boatbuilder Dongara Marine.

FASTWATER Consortium and the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) successfully demonstrated a pilot boat that has been converted to operate on Methanol fuel. The demonstration in Stockholm Harbour follows the successful bunkering of the vessel at the SMA pilot station in Oxelösund, Sweden, where the pilot boat will be based.

As a rule, every pilot has the right to refuse an unsafe ladder. Safety first! A brave pilot is not the one who uses an unsafe ladder, but the one who, in case of doubt, asks for a different ladder or a different setting.
Unfortunately, too many pilots climb a dubious ladder when in doubt.

Ramsgate RNLI crews were called in to help a pilot boat beached at Broadstairs last night (December 7).

The next step for NZMPA is to issue a set of regulator-endorsed guidance notes. The first version will focus on accommodation ladders used in conjunction with pilot ladders.

Australasian Marine Pilots Institute or AMPI held its first ever regional conference outside of Australia in Port Moresby.
The conference opened on Monday night and it continued today and tomorrow with discussions on regulation, pilotage in PNG, training, towage, transfers and technology.

A counterfeit ladder is a pilot ladder that purports to be a genuine approved ladder, from a manufacturer that has been certified by an approved body in the manufacture of pilot ladders to a certified standards.