Ship sailing from Liverpool Docks

From home to work.

The practice is essential to the safety of waterway traffic, as it avoids or minimizes accidents that can cost the lives of people, cause damage to the environment and enormous material losses.
The structure is fully maintained by the practicing companies themselves, without the contribution of any public resource, related to the maintenance of the speedboats, the 24-hour operation of their Operations Centers, the training of their employees, the acquisition and maintenance of communication,...

When I was a deck officer back in the early nineties I worked on a ship that used to load grain at different ports along the Mississippi river. The name of the ship was Golden Hope, a 600 feet long dry bulk carrier with a 95 feet in beam. An average size vessel for those days' standards.

Pilot recruitment has traditionally been based on seniority, and extensive sea experience. However, a more modern approach, hiring younger, motivated candidates with structured training, offers an alternative path with compelling advantages.

In this episode of Mighty Jobs we meet the piloting crew of Buksér og Berging in Tromsø, Norway. Their Volvo Penta-powered piloting boat covers around 42,000 nautical miles every year. That’s the equivalent of traveling around the world twice. The Volvo Penta IPS system makes it possible to pilot ships under all weather conditions.

IMPA received the 2022 SAFETY4SEA Initiative Award for conducting annually its ‘Pilot Ladder Safety Campaign’ with the objective of reporting pilots’ experiences of ladders and boarding equipment to the IMO and the wider shipping community.

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.

(Please note: Anthony F Hoy has CASA Operational Certification for UAV Aerial Photography & Aerial Survey).
The Svitzer Marloo, a Z-Tech 2800 ASD Tug, is one of the few vessels in the world to regularly use the complex and potentially dangerous Centre Lead Forward manoeuvre to assist inbound and outbound bulk carriers in the execution of a 110 degree turn on entering and leaving Port Kembla. Tug Master Phil Jones explains how a dangerous maritime exercise, if properly executed, can deliver...

A video largely shot by my 10, 8 and 4 year old grandchildren depicting an open day at Portsmouth (UK) Commecial Port open day. We look briefly around the port, visit a Challenger (5) sailing yacht, a Pilot boat and a small tanker. The video includes a trip out of Portsmouth Harbour on the Pilot Boat to pick up my Son (a Harbour Pilot) from the grain ship he was taking out of the port.