Batangas Harbor Pilot on call - From home to work

Video by Capt.Harold Janda

What does it take to become a Harbor Pilot in the Philippines

The pilot leaps to his boat accompanied by claps and exclamations of; "Bravo!".

Three pilot companies operate launches from Queenscliff. They take pilots to and from the shipping that comes through Port Phillip heads to the ports of Melbourne and Geelong.

In the pre-dawn hours and many other times of the day, local pilots safely guide cruise ships and cargo ships into BVI ports. The pilots provide local knowledge to the ships' captains to ensure safe arrivals and departures. In order to do this, it requires the pilot to climb from one moving vessel to the other. While this maneuver is taking place, the pilot vessel must maintain speed and stay parallel to the ship, allowing the pilot's safe transfer from one vessel to the other. They make...

Editor's note: The pilot boarding seems a bit improvised and unsafe to me, but that's certainly business as usual, isn't it?

Movement to Universal Terminal Jetty 7, bridge view with Pilot Onboard

Safehaven Marine build a range of vessels for many different operational roles such as patrol, survey, crew transfer to name a few, but what makes Safehaven unique is that we specialize in pilot boats, with 80% of our production dedicated to just this area, and have supplied over 50 pilot craft all around the world over the last 17 years.