SWASH by Abeking & Rasmussen

At the A&R shipyard in Germany, the successful principle of SWATH boats was further developed in 2013: The SWASH principle allows sea-going, smaller and more economical boats.

SWATH and SWASH are interesting technologies that allow a vessel to sail much more calmly in high waves. A stable and calm position of the ship is especially important for pilot boarding.

Earlier this year ABP announced an investment of around £9 million to build nine new pilot boats. These vessels were ordered from Goodchild Marine Services Limited and are being built in Norfolk along with much of the supply chain coming from East Anglian suppliers.

by BAIRD MARITIME: France's JFA Yachts recently handed over a new self-righting boat to the Le Havre Pilot Station.

From deck 13, we can see the harbor pilot jump from the ship to his little boat after navigating us out of Lyttleton

“We haven't built the perfect boat.”
That's the view of Alan Goodchild from Goodchild Marine, one of the many industry voices who spoke to The Full Ahead Podcast at Seawork, Europe's largest on-water commercial marine and workboat exhibition.
Hear from Alan who talks about the development of the Orca 17m pilot boat.

Conference Paper (PDF) by ResearchGate: International Seminar on Safety and Security of Autonomous Vessels (ISSAV) and European STAMP Workshop and Conference (ESWC) 2019, At Helsinki, Finland

Based on MAIB Safety Digest 1/2025, Case 12, published April 2025 by the UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).