Accommodation Ladder Load Testing

Watch and learn how a pilot boards a container ship before entering port.
In this video, a container ship bound for Houston, Texas is boarded by a Houston Pilot before entering the Houston Ship Channel.
#maritime #HoustonPilots #houstonshipchannel

Over the course of 4 days this August, I was afforded the opportunity and privilege of riding with the Savannah Bar Pilots for an article I was writing for a major maritime magazine. The pilots are given the responsibility of boarding a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean and safely navigating the vessel up the Tybee Road 9 (a name for the shipping lane that leads into the Savannah River), into the Savannah River, and into the Port of Savannah. The same is done in reverse when a ship is outbound...

Leaving Honningsvåg Norway aboard the Nieuw Statendam cruise ship in May 2023. Video shows the Pilot leaving the ship.

Ideas from Nasir Khan, Port Pilot: "I would like to suggest that we try an experiment and make some modifications that will result in a better grip on the handrails of the ship's ladder and on the pilot ladder steps. Let's talk about it!"

According to a report from the Maritime-Executive.com the Crescent River Port Pilots Association wants to raise the pilotage fee.

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.