Departure pier#44 June 2020 Constanta Port, Romania

The Northwest Passage is the approximately 5780 km long sea route that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean north of the American continent. It crosses the Arctic Ocean and its marginal seas as well as the associated sea lanes through the Canadian-Arctic archipel ago.

Roald Amundsen made his first complete successfully crossing in 1903-1906 via the route discovered by John Rae through the James Ross Strait, Rae Strait and Simpson Strait on the small ship Gjøa.

After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and entered in the Mediterranean sea it is time to call the pilots at Chioggia/Venice, Italy.

The pilot plays a crucial role in the safe navigation of the vessel to her destination. Expert in the local waters, a Pilot is imperative to the Bridge Team. Berthing/un-berthing, anchoring, transiting narrow channels etc. are very specialized operations and require expertise of a very objective manner that results in efficient planning, monitoring and execution of safe passage. When a ship needs to enter or leave a harbor, marine pilots are sent aboard via a small pilot boat to safely...

Tuesday, October 1st is the start date of the latest International Maritime Pilot Association's annual Safety Campaign.

Previous campaigns by the association have consistently shown results of pilot ladder deficiencies around the 20% mark.

Day shift for duty pilot in Gibraltar on 15th October 2016

Two decades ago, candidates were selected for TNPA's accelerated training programme in Rotterdam, which aimed to train a new generation of ship pilots, managers and other maritime professionals.

The arrival of machine learning and artificial intelligence has taken efficiency to a whole new level. Software platforms can now suggest maintenance routines, recommend spare-part changes, and even predict breakdowns of machinery.

I have had the privilege of being at quite a number of meetings, conferences and seminars, sometimes representing The Netherlands, but mostly representing the Netherlands pilots. I have had many discussions about the role of pilots and pilot organisations, which lead me to write an article “What is the added value of pilotage?”, published in the February 2020 issue of Seaways.

Setubal pilot boat "Bolina" underway to refuelling point in harbour.

Ever wonder how Pilots board a massive container ship at sea? Well, like this!
This is done year round in every major Port around the world, in all types of weather.