Pilot boarding with pilot boat "Spindletop"

Breaux’s Bay Craft, Loreauville, La., delivered the new 90’x23’x12’4″ aluminum pilot boat Spindletop to the Sabine Pilots on March 6. The Sabine Pilots, Port Arthur, Texas, serve the Texas ports of Orange, Port Arthur and Beaumont. “This is the biggest pilot boat built in the U.S.,” said Roy Breaux, the shipyard’s owner. “There are bigger ones in other parts of the world, but this is the largest in the U.S.”

BREAUX'S BAY CRAFT 90' PILOT VESSEL

New guidance for PBAs with trapdoors. Released 4.11.2020 at NZMPA Conference in Dunedin, NZ. Distinct difference to suggestions in many other countries, is that we challenge operators who have the ladder suspended from the accommodation ladder (gangway) and not secured to the ship. SOLAS states that pilot ladder shall be secured to the ship, and securing strongpoints, shackles and ropes shall be as strong as the sideropes.

August 2022, tanker Thun London and Foyle Leader pilot vessel. www.nightskyhunter.com

The US Coast Guard "Safety Alert 04-22" has been released. The alert addresses the importance of verifying the correct arrangement of handholds in embarkation gate arrangements aboard merchant vessels.

photo and article by Luis Vale, Portugal

timelapse of Pilot embarking and departing from Ship
#shorts

President of the Marine Pilot Association, Hubert Kerr, said that the pilots will not be satisfied with just being placed on a priority list, but are instead advocating for the actual jab to boost their protection against COVID-19, given their interaction with persons from different countries daily.

Eerie fog envelops the Disney Wonder as the cruise ship enters the mouth of the Mississippi River from the Gulf of Mexico. A pilot boat approaches to drop off the Mississippi River boat pilot.
The eerie fog made it look like the ship somehow transported to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
No sign of Captain Jack Sparrow, but he has to be hiding somewhere. Maybe he's at the Crown & Fin Pub having a tot of Navy Strength Pusser's Rum.
Video taken from deck 10 aft near the Palo restaurant.

Construction of the world’s first shipping tunnel will soon get underway in western Norway following government approval of startup funds. The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) has proposed a plan to complete a tender process in 2021.