Yellow Magnet with Sling to secure Pilot Ladder

Most pilot embarkations and disembarkations around the world, are still carried out using a traditional pilot ladder, consisting of wooden steps supported and secured by side ropes.

Tuesday, October 1st is the start date of the latest International Maritime Pilot Association's annual Safety Campaign.

Previous campaigns by the association have consistently shown results of pilot ladder deficiencies around the 20% mark.

There are many things in both our everyday and professional lives which we take for granted and never question the origins of, an example of this might be the IMPA recommended ‘pilot mark or pilot line’, which is sometimes seen on the side of vessels indicating where a vessels freeboard exceeds 9 metres.

Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) and other individual MOB devices have been available for some years now and have evolved to incorporate a variety of different alerting methods and combinations. However, usage of these additional enhancements within UK Pilotage is still in its infancy.

Required tug power and number of tugs needed in variable conditions of wind, current and waves isin most cases an assessment made by pilots based on their professional experience. However, assessments will raise questions by lawyers if something goes wrong. They will use tools to calculate what really is needed with respect to tug power and number of tugs. They have furthermore the advantage of time.

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.

This video shows how to use the TRENZ Pilot Plug with an iPad and the app SEAiq.
SEAiq can be bought from the Apple AppStore.
Please visit https://trenz-pilotplug.com/ for more information.

Qastor was first released in 1998 and has become the benchmark in pilotage software in the years to follow.

The software has evolved from being just a navigational aid to an essential tool to support the day to day activities of the marine pilot.

This report on incidents involving vessels under pilotage, is an update on that issued in 2006. The IG’s first report examined five years of data between 1999 and 2004.

Pilot boat
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