NASAI MARINE P11 "CASABLANCA PILOTS"

Port of Townsville latest Mantaray HM ORC 173, along with all Port of Townsville’s pilot boat fleet is defined by the Pantocarene designed beak bow vessels that are the forefront of pilot vessel desingn worldwide.

Time for shift change. Captain Henry transferring from Pilot boat Texas City to Pilot boat Texas. Turn the sound up towards the end and hear those twin V12 Cummins sing.

We we’re out on sea trials with the two newly launched Interceptor 48 pilot boats when the Port of Cork pilot boat ‘Failte’ passed by to undertake a pilot transfer from an outbound ship. It was a nice opportunity to capture some cool video of the action as the boats ran alongside before the ship turned to create a lee for the pilot to disembark. Although the seas weren’t very big, it was blowing hard at the time with gusts of over 50kts recorded at Roches PT lighthouse as we passed.

The Port of Townsville has welcomed the newest addition to its fleet of pilot boats with the arrival of the newly built Mantaray. The $3.3 million, custom-built vessel utilises high-tech equipment and design to maximise safety and efficiency for pilot transfers.

The pilot boat will be christened Paga after the Paga Hill which overlooks the Fairfax Harbour where PNG Ports operates from in Port Moresby.

In this issue:
- Feauture Article - Threat an Error Managment
- Presidents Report
- Pilot Boat Special Reviews

It is not often that this blog is used to show bad practice, however in this case some pictures tell a whole story. Ship is compliant by design for rigging a combination. How about the operator(s)?

On the 23rd of March 2021 the VLCC Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal. A strong southerly wind (between 6 and 7 BFT) plus so-called bank shear caused steering issues. This a combined 2D and 3D reconstruction of the incident based on recorded AIS data.

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