Maryland bans cellphone use by cargo ship pilots

The Maryland Board of Pilots has decided to enact a rule change that forbids on-duty pilots from using their phones.

Efforts to free the giant container ship are continuing after the 400m-long vessel became stuck in the Suez canal. Local authorities attempted to dislodge the 220,000 ton vessel from the banks of the canal using tug boats, but the megaship remains stuck more than one day after it ran aground.

A container ship is reported to be stranded off the coast of Gibson Island in the Chesapeake Bay. Marine Tracker lists the ship as the Ever Forward and that it is aground. It appears there are several tugboats out of Baltimore trying to assist. The company that operates the ship, Evergreen, is the same one that was responsible for the ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal a year ago.

The Master and Chief Engineer of the log-carrier MV Funing, have today been sentenced and fined after admitting charges relating to the grounding of the ship at the Port of Tauranga in July.

Master Liang Guang Hong and Chief Engineer Chameekara Prasad Nanayakkara both entered guilty pleas in the Tauranga District Court on 10 September to charges brought by Maritime NZ under the Maritime Transport Act (MTA) 1994.

Every day, Columbia River Bar Pilots guide massive cargo ships and tankers between the Pacific Ocean and the Columbia River, negotiating the Astoria bridge. Their job is to make that voyage often and make it safely, so you'd better believe they're paying attention to what happened in Baltimore. Read more: https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/columbia-bar-pilots-river-baltimore-bridge-collapse-cargo-ship/283-e3770397-292c-49e2-a7fd-b0d2db6ccdb1 Watch more The Story videos: http://...

To monitor the vessel’s progress, the pilot had set up his portable pilotage unit (PPU). He had connected the rate-of-turn generator to the vessel’s pilot plug and had set a variable range marker on the radar with a radius of 0.5 nm.

Tanker went out of control after engine failure and collided with general cargo ship in Kiel Canal near Kiel locks, at around 0120 LT Jul 27.

AMSA notes with concern that since November 2017 several pilots’ lives have been placed at risk, in six separate incidents where man ropes have parted, or its securing point has failed. In addition, AMSA regularly receives reports and complaints about non-compliant pilot transfer arrangements

Ship pilot transfer from container ship with first person view

As the world struggles with the Covid-19 virus, the maritime world is being hit hard, not only economically, but also socially and operationally. Iin shipping there are no borders.