We take a look at some of the dangerous ladder arrangements provided by ships when attempting to take maritime pilots on board. Our message is simple: if you are offered an unsafe or non-compliant ladder, do not board!

It is not often that this blog is used to show bad practice, however in this case some pictures tell a whole story. Ship is compliant by design for rigging a combination. How about the operator(s)?

Australian Capital Territory Section Technical Meeting
November 2021, online via Zoom

From "Casual Navigation": In this video, we investigate the Pilot Ladder. It is a crucial piece of equipment, used for embarking and disembarking a harbor pilot at sea.(contains advertising)

This video has been recut and edited by the creator Hugues Cauvier. Previously there were three episodes, which have now been combined into one.

In it´s August 2022 monthly safety scenario, the Swedish Club describes an accident where a pilot had fallen into the water, after one of the side ropes of the ladder broke.

PSA Marine (Pte) Ltd (“PSA Marine”) joins the global movement towards sustainable shipping by reducing carbon footprint with the use of a digital solution – Vessel Pilot Communication (“VPC”), launched on 25 August 2020. With VPC, PSA Marine ensures that critical and timely updates on pilot boarding times and traffic conditions in and around the pilot boarding grounds are communicated to vessel masters.

Video produced by Pilot : Dang Tinh Thai port in video at : Fushan, Yantai, Shandong, China - Yantai Port ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ General of vessel : Marine Tracffic Music : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or20zp56RkI Tik Tok : https://www.tiktok.com/@yeutaubien.damehanghai?_t=8WgiQNmiRcX&_r=1 Fanpage : https://www.facebook.com/Wvfcs.102

What a dangerous situation. Never seen that before.

Experiences of a Pilot: The port's chief pilot talks about his work, "what we do is not well known in the city", and about the risk they run, "on a bad day we can get scared", he says.