Pilot disembarkation Amsterdam

16m Pilot Boat "Sever" built by Holyhead Marine in 2012. Length 16.5m Beam 5.3m Draught 1.3m Main Engines Twin Scania DI16 600 BHP @ 1800 RPM Transmission Twin Disc “Quickshift” MGX-5135SC Gearboxes Propellers Five bladed Maximum Speed 26 knots Client – Sydney Ports Corporation, Australia.

Like many seafarers I have long been a keen follower of The Nautical Institute’s MARS programme, and along with many other members I listened to the recent webinar on that topic. One theme which was repeated more than once was that it is better to learn from someone else’s misfortune rather than have it happen to you. Having personally been involved in two near misses resulting from unsafe pilot transfer arrangements in a relatively short space of time, I asked how experiences and knowledge specifically about pilot ladder safety could best be promulgated to avoid repeating common accidents or near misses.

Risk Involved When Preparing Combination Ladder

February 23, 2020.
During high seas, smaller ships board Maritime Pilots in the mass entrance to Port of Rotterdam.

Experiences of a Pilot: The port's chief pilot talks about his work, "what we do is not well known in the city", and about the risk they run, "on a bad day we can get scared", he says.

Pilot Boat in Action
Westerschelde Vlissingen NL
Access to Antwerpen

On Monday 29th June the school ship Amerigo Vespucci left the port of Livorno for the education campaign of the official students of the Naval Academy.
To assist the school ship also the Pilots of the Port of Livorno with the com.te Marino Biancotti.

AURIGA Group on Friday announced it had appointed the first female pilot in its business, as well as the first female leader of a reef pilotage business.

Does the growth of ships ever have limits? Perhaps less in shipbuilding than in the handling of the ships during piloting.