KITTIWAKE ( MMSI 232008570) is a Pilot and currently sailing under the flag of United Kingdom (UK) Here she is speeding down the River this morning.

SOLAS/IMO/IMPA Regulations require additional safety measurements for pilot's boarding and disembarkation since recently. These magnetic holders of two types, one is manually set and the other is a remotely controlled one, fixes both pilot ladder and accommodation ladder (gangway) strongly onto the hull of the ship. Thus, the pilot can climb more safely. We are negotiating with ISO, IMO, IMPA etc in order to standardize these items for pilot safety.

Due to many incidents involving pilot ladders and man ropes in South Australian ports, and in effort to improve pilot safety, from 1 January 2022 Flinders Ports will require visiting vessels and their Masters to take additional precautions

The American Pilots’ Association has sent a letter to state pilotage authorities across the United States on behalf of approximately 1,200 American ship pilots to improve safety pilot safety following the death of a New York pilot in December.

It does not happen very often that we have a Eurochannel bound ship to sea. In this case the MARIA P LEMOS, 333 m with a draft of 20,7 m left Rotterdam underway to the Far East .

The term pilot is defined as, “a person who is qualified and usually licensed to conduct a ship into and out of a port or in specified waters.” The Merchant Shipping Act 1894 states that, “a pilot is any person not belonging to a ship who has the conduct thereof.”