Pilot Boarding in Valetta (Malta)

Malta Maritime Pilots

Harbour pilots perform tricky operations boarding big cruise ships from fast pilot boats. Auckland and Malta.

Other countries, other morals. What do you think about the work of the ship's crew? Do they work carefully in accordance with the regulations?

Jacobsen Pilot Service and Los Angeles Pilot Station published a notice to all ships to inspect pilot ladders before the pilot boards.

Reason is an incident happened at the port of long beach in July 2020. Pilot ladder rope broke while the pilot was on the ladder - luckily the pilot was able to hold on.

In this article I would like to share my thoughts on this pilot ladder poster. Is it as good as we think or is there room for improvement? By taking you through this poster step by step I hope to explain what needs to be changed to make it similar to IMO an SOLAS regulations.

Pilots boarding the M/V Hodaka Galaxy with the San Francisco Bar Pilots.
More content @sea_weathered https://instagram.com/sea_weathered?utm_medium=copy_link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

From that moment on I have been keeping a tally of the non compliant boarding arrangements I see in front of me on a daily base, and off course I participate in the annual safety campaign, conducted by IMPA each october.

Chapter 3 from the book "Crossing the Bar, The Adventures of a San Francisco Bay Bar Pilot" by Captain Paul Lobo, available on Amazon (link below)