To monitor the vessel’s progress, the pilot had set up his portable pilotage unit (PPU). He had connected the rate-of-turn generator to the vessel’s pilot plug and had set a variable range marker on the radar with a radius of 0.5 nm.

A bridge team’s lack of effective monitoring of their position while at anchor led to a cargo ship hitting an anchored bulk carrier and striking a chemical dock on the Lower Mississippi River near New Orleans, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) marine accident brief.

Going down the accommodation ladder with neither lifevest nor safety line must have been based on similar, past, successful operations, which may have never been challenged on board. This ‘slippage’ in safety is a pernicious and common phenomenon.

The pilot at Nagasaki Port fell into the water at around 0530 Tokyo time on 5 May while boarding the cruise ship DIAMOND PRINCESS, which was about to enter Nagasaki.

An analysis by Ahmed Sati

On the occasion of the Maritime Safety Week (July 4-10), UK MAIB’s inspector Bill Evans refers to the issue of unsafe pilot ladders, a concern that has been regularly voiced by the industry.

We get to take the rough with the smooth on sea trials, 'Murshid'- Interceptor Pilot 60, lovely looking pilot boat.

Next generation of Navigation. This video shows the new technologies put up on Navigation. #ecdis #lifeatsea #seafarer

Fewer vessels in voyage mean less pilotage and this means less income for many Pilots. Not every Pilot is an employee and many pilots are self-employed and organised in a brotherhood per example. They are earning only money if they are piloting a vessel. No vessel – no money.

Since 2022, there is a solution in Germany that helps pilots to report defects in pilot ladders or pilot transfer arrangements quickly and easily. The apps are available for Android & iOS.