DanPilot pilot boat "Echo"

Caught at Cuxhaven, Germany

The new pilot boat "Buran" has been delivered to Poseidon Sea Pilots of Queensland, Australia.

Pilot cutters are used to take pilots between the three pilot stations (at Gravesend, Harwich and Ramsgate) and ships entering or leaving the Port of London.
Three dedicated pilot cutters Patrol, Guide and our hybrid Leader are based at Gravesend. The six cutters used at Ramsgate are operated by a Estuary Services Limited, which is jointly owned by the PLA and Medway Ports Ltd.

The innovative and newly set up ship builder Wallaby Boats GmbH (WB), based in Kappeln,
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, has decided in the investment to build the world’s first crew transfer
vessel/daughter craft (CTV/DC) with a suspension system.

Brightlingsea Harbour - a mixed leisure and commercial port on the East Coast of England
has recently signed contracts with Seaward to have a new pilot boat built, The demands of Pilot duties as well as working as a patrol boat and harbour launch, and the sea conditions that can occur in the area made the Nelson hulled Seaward the natural choice of vessel.

Topic: Technical or human error?
Ed Verbeek already published this interesting article about the proportion of human to technical errors on LinkedIn last week.

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.

Improvements to pilots’ situation awareness (SA) in maritime navigation are critical to reducing human errors, which have caused 75% to 96% of marine accidents over the last few years.

A glimpse onboard cargo ship on how we do reportings upon entering VTS area and contacting of pilot upon arrival. On this video, the vessel is arriving in port of Bremen, Germany.
How we do it onboard? Watch the full video.

VESSEL REVIEW - by Baird Maritime
Seattle, Washington-based boatbuilder Snow and Company has handed over a new all-aluminium monohull pilot boat to the San Francisco Bar Pilots of California.