Pilot rope ladder - Deyuan Marine

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.

Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) and other individual MOB devices have been available for some years now and have evolved to incorporate a variety of different alerting methods and combinations. However, usage of these additional enhancements within UK Pilotage is still in its infancy.

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.

Australian Pilot Disembarking Ship Using Pilot Ladder With Man Ropes

Baltic Workboats AS in Estonia was awarded the contract to build the approximately 18 metre long vessel, which will be named "Hamburg Pilot 1", following a Europe-wide tender.

Adding map and speedometer widgets to your GoPro video clips. Tips by Capt. Kris de Decker