Introduction to Pilotage

Port operations, whether these are being performed on water or on land, are often not without risk. Pilots boarding a ship while sailing, navigating through narrow passages, collision avoidance with other smaller or larger vessels, discharging and moving cargo on land, walking between container handling equipment and trucks…

From that moment on I have been keeping a tally of the non compliant boarding arrangements I see in front of me on a daily base, and off course I participate in the annual safety campaign, conducted by IMPA each october.

Tom Mellor - C​hairman of the IHO Electronic Navigational Chart Working Group (ENC WG) and Head of Digital Standards at the UKHO - explains what the IHO's ECDIS and ENC Standards mean.

Fathom Safety was established as a not for profit organisation dedicated to improving maritime pilot transfer safety. Here is a guide to pilot ladder rigging. We hope you like it!

Electronic warfare in the Baltic Sea is escalating rapidly, with GPS and AIS disruptions posing growing risks to maritime navigation. Russia’s hybrid strategy is targeting both safety and stability in one of Europe’s most critical shipping regions. Pilots and crews now face a new reality: navigating under threat.

Look at Life - City of Sailors - Portsmouth - 1965
Portsmouth is no longer the sea-faring city it once was; this film from the Documentary Series "Look At Life" Volume 5 - Cultural Heritage in 1965 looks at its changing face.

Launching Pilot boat di Galangan Kapal Yasa Wahana Tirta Samudera, Semarang

Roberta Cotta and Teresa Matarese are the only two women in the Italian Federation of Harbour Pilots (Fedepiloti) team of 212 professionals.

Pilot boat launch in Youghal on July 2012.

For 174 years, the San Francisco Bar Pilots have been safely navigating the world’s largest ships through some of North America’s most challenging waterways.