Ship piloting in pandemic times in Santa Marta, Colombia

It has been 1 month since the 1st case of coronavirus in the country. All airports were shut down, and mandatory confinement was issued 10 days ago. Nevertheless, Maritime shipping must continue (except for tourist related). The means that us pilots must continue with our duties despite the risks involved with all the ships' crews arriving from different countries. So we need to take all safety measures possible.

This particular maneuver was unberthing a chemical tanker, in loaded condition, the "Maersk Borneo", which is a mid size tanker with a bow thruster and a fixed pitch prop. I used 2 tugs fast on the port side, backed her out of the basin and turned her to port. Captain and crew were very professional.