Taking on a harbor pilot - The Beagle Channel - Argentina

A pilot ladder is a highly specialized form of rope ladder, typically used on board cargo vessels for the purposes of embarking and disembarking pilots.

Pilots boarding the M/V Hodaka Galaxy with the San Francisco Bar Pilots.
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London Pilots (PLA) have issued an excellent quick reference guide for Pilot Transfer arrangements, which can be used for pilots as well as ship’s crews. Please take not of this document and if you can, try to incorporate it into your procedures.

On April 20, 2026, the Columbia River Bar Pilots conducted a MOB drill with the U.S. Coast Guard Station Astoria.

IMPA has published examples of best practice together with a letter from Capt. Simon Pelletier, President of IMPA.

Container vessel ALDIVIA (IMO 9333395) was dangerously close to public beach at Vlissingen Netherlands, on May 21, while heading out to sea, en route from Antwerp to Helsinki Finland.
The cause of dangerous approach is unknown, but the ship wasn’t detained, she continued her voyage.

Reflections on his work on the Mississippi River (2014)

"Out of control" container ship prompts temporary closure of Ravenel Bridge; remains anchored outside Charleston Harbor

Chesapeake Bay pilots guide massive cargo ships safely through the Bay's channels every day, but boarding them on a ladder attached to a moving ship is nothing short of breathtaking. Watch the video from a retired Bay Pilot.

Since 2019, the German Federal Pilotage Chamber (Bundeslotsenkammer, BLK), in cooperation with Hamburg Port Services GmbH (HPS), has been offering a three-day safety training course specifically designed for maritime pilots and pilot boat crews at a training center in Bremerhaven, Germany.