Pilot on board # 1

On the occasion of the Maritime Safety Week (July 4-10), UK MAIB’s inspector Bill Evans refers to the issue of unsafe pilot ladders, a concern that has been regularly voiced by the industry.

A counterfeit ladder is a pilot ladder that purports to be a genuine approved ladder, from a manufacturer that has been certified by an approved body in the manufacture of pilot ladders to a certified standards.

Pilot disembark at Rotterdam, Netherlands

Mississippi River Pilot transfer off of south bound ship in the Mississippi River below New Orleans to a Pilot Boat. Pilots climb down rope ladder onto the top of the Pilot Boat while both boats are underway.

The last month Jan Tiedemann from Alphaliner (BRS) in Hamburg has reported, that DNV GL has awarded Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding (group) Co., Ltd. an approval in principle for the design of an LNG-powered 25,000 TEU container vessel. Based upon the reported vessel dimensions, he reckons that the ship could actually have a capacity closer to 26,000 TEU.

NANIWA　(Pilot Vessel) IMO: - MMSI: 431007094 Call Sign: - Flag: Japan [JP] AIS Vessel Type: Other Gross Tonnage: - Deadweight: - Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 18m × 4m Year Built: - Status: Active Voyage Info https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:3738287/mmsi:431007094/vessel:NANIWA

Created by Tim Cummins. This is an uncontrolled example of the latest passage plan used by the Pilot Service at Portsmouth International Port.

The Pilots’ Association of the Bay and River Delaware have ordered another pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation. It’s the pilots’ association’s fourth Chesapeake Class launch and eleventh pilot boat built by the Somerset, Mass., shipyard since 1957. Delivery of the new pilot boat is scheduled for 2024.

Before you, you see my third article on pilot boarding arrangements. After my two previous articles ‘1000 ways to secure a pilot ladder’ and ‘1000 ladders around’, I have received a lot of feedback and also questions to get deeper into the matter of combinations and embarkation platforms.