History: Pilot Ahoy! (1940). A pathetone special

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

The Maryland Pilots have guided ships to and from Baltimore since the 1700's. They have been chartered as an organization since 1852. This is an edited except from films about the Pilots shot between 1950-1965 for the Port that Built a City and State. The original films are in the archives of the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

Möt Hanna, en av våra oumbärliga lotsar på Sjöfartsverket. Som lots fyller hon en viktig funktion, både i bryggteamet på fartygen och i ett större perspektiv. Eftersom vi i Sverige har lotsplikt, är Hanna och hennes kollegors arbete avgörande för den svenska sjöfarten.

This article was first published back in February 2022: According to the International Group of P & I Clubs’ “Report on P&I claims involving vessels under pilotage 1999-2019”, over the last twenty years, there were 1,046 incidents in which pilot error either caused or contributed to those events.

Genova – Il gigantismo navale? Ha creato una nuova e complessa procedura per accogliere le nuove navi a Genova, ma di fatto ha ridotto le accostate e quindi il numero di pilotaggi, richiedendo un costante aggiornamento e la messa a punto, di volta in volta, di nuove manovre studiate prima a tavolino dai servizi tecnico nautici del porto e poi provate almeno una volta da tutti i piloti prima di diventare prassi consolidata. La nuova diga, inoltre, sta dando e darà ulteriore lavoro cambiando l'attività dei Piloti del Porto di Genova.

Captain Matt Glass, a deputy pilot with the Houston Pilots, boards and guides the UAL Capetown on the Houston Ship Channel from the landing area outside Galveston Bay to the Manchester docks in Houston, a voyage of about 7 hours.

Ich bin zu Besuch beim Lotsbetriebsverein in Bremerhaven und unterhalte mich mit dem Ältermann Jan-Helge Jannsen über das Lotswesen in Deutschland. Wir fahren außerdem mit dem Lotsenboot raus und begleiten Lotsen und die Crew auf den Versetzern bei einem Einsatz.

The Port of Milford Haven’s new pilot vessel has reached a key project milestone with a successful launch in the Netherlands, where the craft is currently under construction.

Australian technology provider Frontier Automation has released a new vessel tracking system that can be used as a docking aid tool by pilots. As for all Frontier Automation control systems, it uses 3D machine vision to automatically detect and track in real time shipping vessels within range of a berth by providing information on critical distances to mooring infrastructure, on vessel speed and angle, and on vessel movement directions and orientations.