NRW pilot boat offshore Mooloolaba

WESTDIEP PILOT (IMO: 9568988) is a Pilot Ship that was built in 2011 (10 years ago) and is sailing under the flag of Belgium.

The investment in the vessels to work on the busy waterways will see the arrival next year of the next generation of pilot boats built by Holyhead Marine.

Here's a nice little video of sea trials during the recent unseasonal storm we had last month, which produced some pretty rough conditions at the entrance to Cork Harbour. We managed to capture some nice footage of the Barracuda and Thunder Child II on the day.

Manoeuvring large ships at close quarters and on shallow water is one of the most difficult aspects of shiphandling because of the complex hydraulic interactions depending on the ships' speeds, on the water depth and on lateral restrictions like in canals. Training is conducted both on meeting and on overtaking ships in shallow waters. This video shows how overtaking in a canal should be conducted: come in close to the stern and then move away from the bow that will be sucked towards your...

When I was a deck officer back in the early nineties I worked on a ship that used to load grain at different ports along the Mississippi river. The name of the ship was Golden Hope, a 600 feet long dry bulk carrier with a 95 feet in beam. An average size vessel for those days' standards.

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.

A in-depth video explaining how DUKC® works.