Maritime Pilot Training V - Pilot Ladder Training

SWATH and SWASH are interesting technologies that allow a vessel to sail much more calmly in high waves. A stable and calm position of the ship is especially important for pilot boarding.

Stanchions therefore are an often-overlooked part of a pilot transfer arrangement and therefore I
want to give them more attention in this article. They proved to be the cause of a whole series of accidents, some of which were even fatal.

Port Revel is used for shiphandling training of maritime pilots, masters and officers on a 5 ha lake with 11 manned model ships representing 20 vessels, and 4 tugs at scale 1:25 and DGPS tracking system. Instructors are former maritime pilots.
Training on the scale models provides experience that could never be gained on real ships for the simple reason that neither ship-owners nor local authorities would allow such risks to be taken. Scale models allow the shiphandler to make mistakes....

Pilot transfer operations always involve risk, even when conditions are favorable. Learn the essential safety procedures involved in this operation.
Visit https://www.maritimetraining.com/Course/Pilot-Ladders-Safe-Rigging-Procedures to purchase the full-length version.

In this movie the efficiency of two different pod operation strategies is compared: With azimuth propeller ships the Pods can be used in two ways to control the speed, e.g. for speed reduction: 1. by adjusting the engine orders, e.g. by reducing the RPMs to get lower speed - this means to drive the ship in the same conventional way as for twin screw vessels, 2. by turning both pods either in- or outward (TOE-IN or TOE-OUT) to reduce the forward thrust and therefore reducing the speed – the...

The debate is whether highly skilled pilots could have successfully overcome the recent Boeing 737 MAX computer deficiencies. Will this question eventually be relevant to harbor pilot skills?

Based in Estonia, Baltic Workboats is a long-tenured boatbuilder for multiple markets, including the demanding pilot boat sector. Late in 2025 in New Orleans BWB debuted a new hybrid electric 17m model, a boat that leans on more than 15 years of accrued experience building larger hybrid electric vessels. Carl Mahler, BWB’s North American sales lead and a harbor pilot himself, discussed with Maritime Reporter TV the value proposition offered by the shipyard, from manufacturing process to...

French operator Seine River Pilot Station has expanded its fleet of pilot boats with the recent acquisition of a newbuild vessel from local builder Chantier Naval Delavergne.