Those Who Serve: Columbia River bar pilots risk their lives to guide cargo ships

Let us start a journey back in time. Back to the black and white films of history. The times have changed, but it is good to know what kind of things have changed and where are the roots of pilotage.

After spending years at sea, Brett Monthie had to chart the channels in Tampa Bay from memory in order to become a Tampa Bay harbor pilot. And then he spent 30 months in training.

On October 11, 2018, the Kristin Alexis was performing fleeting work with a crew of six, including a captain, pilot, and four deckhands (two per shift), at the Cooper Consolidated fleeting facility at Convent located at mile 161.5. About 2300, the Cooper Consolidated dispatcher informed the Kristin Alexis captain that their next job was to move the derrick-type crane barge Mr Ervin upriver to the Cooper Consolidated fleeting facility in Darrow, located at mile 175.

Experiences from Australia: No two days are the same for a marine pilot in a busy port such as Esperance, but Mr MacAdie wouldn’t have it any other way.

Look at Life Vol 01 Transport Pilot Aboard 1963
The story of Britain's pilotage services.

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)?

Container ship CMA CGM MISSOURI ran aground in Suez Canal while transiting in southern direction, at around 0930 UTC Oct 14. As of 1745 UTC, probably refloated or moved, several Suez Canal tugs attending. Traffic probably suspended, but it’s not confirmed. No information on what caused grounding.
Container ship CMA CGM MISSOURI, IMO 9679919, dwt 115600, capacity 9448 TEU, built 2016, flag Liberia.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s (MAIB) has published their latest annual report showing that pilot ladders remain a safety issue for workers.

Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) and other individual MOB devices have been available for some years now and have evolved to incorporate a variety of different alerting methods and combinations. However, usage of these additional enhancements within UK Pilotage is still in its infancy.