Among the few marine professions that purse a man's technical skills and value very high, maritime piloting perhaps is in a class of its own. In this career, the pilot is entrusted to maneuver vessels through some of the most challenging and congested waterways while ensuring seamless integration between shipboard operations and port infrastructure.
They look like toy boats, but they serve a serious purpose. An outsider at this facility near Grenoble, France, may see grown men riding arounda lake in miniature ships. But these are pilots of the world's largest ships, and they're practicing navigation with meticulously engineered 1:25 scale models of real cruisers, tankers, and containerships. Port Revel Shiphandling Training Centre, in operation since 1967, has had more than 6,000 maritime pilots and merchant ship officers from all over...
Soon a Vega will launch from Kourou carrying a payload of several satellites. These will be delivered into orbit by a new multi-payload system developed by ESA. Among these small satellites, E-SAIL. This microsatellite is dedicated to supporting maritime traffic and making seafaring safer. It is part of ESA’s SAT-AIS programme, which aims is to increase the coverage of the Automatic Identification System for ships. This system is a short-range coastal tracking system currently used on...
