Near miss: VALDIVIA dangerously approached beach in Vlissingen, NL

vlissingen 2017

Vessel name: Polaris ; Year built: 2012 ; Flag: Netherlands ; Homeport: Rotterdam Length: 81.2m X 13.3m ; GRT: 2501 ; Callsign: PBZN ; MMSI:245142000 ; IMO: 9496915 Type: Special Vessel / Pilot Ship A "Pilot Ship / Pilot Vessel" is a "special type" of ship in which it accommodates a certain and limited Marine Pilots (Sea, River, Harbor Pilots), it also carries small boats/crafts that are used to tender services to and from the Pilot ship. In a Pilot Vessel, the Pilots can take their time...

Het Nederlands Loodswezen BV is een organisatie die de aangesloten registerloodsen de middelen verschaft om hun werk uit te oefenen. Zo int het Loodswezen de loodsgelden en zorgt de organisatie voor het transport van en naar zeeschepen. We zien hier een prachtig staaltje inparkeren door de Pioneer in de speciaal daarvoor aangelegde loodsbotenhaven in Vlissingen; naast het Keizersbolwerk. Klaar om de Westerschelde weer op te varen.

Today, Nautitec took residence of their new offices at the construction site of the “Friesenbrücke” in Weener, the railway bridge which is connecting Weener to the Netherlands.

The Bahamas has imposed a compulsory maritime pilot rule for all vessels, including cruise ships, at its ports since September 2025.

The operators of Egypt's Suez Canal say technical or human error could have caused a huge container ship to run aground. Engineers are working round the clock to refloat the Ever Given. The vessel has been blocking one of the world's busiest shipping lanes for the last five days. The chairman of the canal authority hopes a dredging operation will free the ship in the next few days.

The Japanese-flagged container ship ONE Apus has lost 1,816 cargo carriers after it was caught up in a violent storm in the Pacific on November 30, 2020. The vessel arrived December 8 in the Japanese port of Kobe, where shipowners and managers said a full safety inspection would be carried out. The incident is described as the second biggest cargo loss in shipping history.

Deadline: 15th June 2021

A 1,000 Navy Vessels around... Quite often those vessels have the tendency of presenting themselves with a pilot transfer arrangement which is non-compliant.

This lady came into port in an excellent day, however when I inspected the pilot ladder prior to board I saw that it was rigged using D-Shackles fastened between the side ropes, transferring all the weight and load of the ladder to the clamps and chokes. Truly an unsuitable method of securing the ladder. Retrieval line was also not above the first spreader
After pulling out the pilot boat, the ship was contacted by VHF and the captain was asked to instruct the crew in the usage of ropes and...