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.

Furetank turns a former office building into a maritime educational centre on Donsö outside Gothenburg: a state-of-the-art ship simulator complex for training, assessment and certification.

The National Transportation Safety Board issued Marine Accident Brief 20/37 Tuesday for its investigation of the Sept. 23, 2019, accident involving the tugboat G.M. McAllister and the NGL Energy Partners wharf on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, near Chesapeake, Virginia.

The last pilot's trip of Vincent (Flemish pilotage). An unforgettable day provided by Vincent, his family and team 9. A trip from Vlissingen to the Zandvlietsluis on Saturday 18 September 2021.

This action seeks compensation for injuries he alleges have prematurely ended his career in shipping.

Research on hydrodynamic interaction indicates that if the speed of the ship near a bank is too high, the rudder may be less able to cope with the forces induced and control will be lost. The Nautical Institute highlights this in its latest Mars Report, in which an LPG carrier hit a barge being towed by a tugboat as a result of hydrodynamic forces.

Text and photos by Tonci Regjo
Pilot for the Split Harbour

University of York: Here, Dr Kate Preston explains why we need to fully understand the complexity maritime pilotage before we can integrate technology like autonomy.