Safe boarding of vessels

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.

SeaSafe - Marine pilot falling off a ships ladder with his integrated life jacket coat

"Rope Ladders" by PTR Holland

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.

Harken Safety & Rescue has unveiled an innovative man overboard recovery system designed to improve safety on vessels. Developed in collaboration with Genoa Port Pilots, this system offers a solution for rescuing overboard personnel efficiently.

Clear statements from Fremantle Pilots and Fremantle Ports to ensure the safety of pilot transfers.

This notice reminds shipowners, operators, masters, crews, recognised organisations, marine pilots and pilotage providers of the obligation to provide safe pilot transfer arrangements.

Editor's note: The pilot boarding seems a bit improvised and unsafe to me, but that's certainly business as usual, isn't it?

A handy and simple tool to determine in a minimum time what is really needed as tug assistance, is the Bollard Pull Calculator which calculates in an approximate way the total required tug power for ships in various conditions of wind and current. This tool can be loaded as an app on the smart phone.

On 21st and 22nd September, the ISPO conference 2022 will be held at Cork in Ireland. Now the conference program and topics have been published.