There are many things in both our everyday and professional lives which we take for granted and never question the origins of, an example of this might be the IMPA recommended ‘pilot mark or pilot line’, which is sometimes seen on the side of vessels indicating where a vessels freeboard exceeds 9 metres.

During the transit time on the pilot launch between the shore and the vessel, marine pilots will spend at least a portion of that time carrying out (either consciously or subconsciously) a risk assessment of the forthcoming operation.

Over the past few years a number of pilot transfer accidents have occurred resulting from total failure of the side ropes, one school of thought is that the methods of securing a pilot ladder is a factor in such occurrences.

Harbor Pilot Nasir Khan from Pakistan has sent his own checklist to Marine-Pilots.com - we share this list for our readers and look forward to an interesting discussion.

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.

The pilot leaps to his boat accompanied by claps and exclamations of; "Bravo!".

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)

Let's enter the Port of Vitória? Marcelo Silva takes us through the channel. He leads a ship 213 meters long and 32 meters wide to the berth. Draught ahead 8,70m and aft 9,60m. Air draught 44,10 m.