This requires a ton of skill!

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.

This is a video designed to educate people about pilots and their work. It consists of an animated version and a live action version.

Due to many incidents involving pilot ladders and man ropes in South Australian ports, and in effort to improve pilot safety, from 1 January 2022 Flinders Ports will require visiting vessels and their Masters to take additional precautions

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.

It is not often that this blog is used to show bad practice, however in this case some pictures tell a whole story. Ship is compliant by design for rigging a combination. How about the operator(s)?

It has been shown that a majority (51%) of pilot ladders is secured by means of D-shackles, when secured at intermediate length. Previous research (Evans, 2020) has proven that this method has only about 50% of the strength of the pilot ladder when secured at full length (“double ended ladder”), or by means of the “endless-sling” method.

Course Name: Berthing, Anchoring & other Mooring Operations
Topic Name: Berthing

Boat to boat Pilot transfer, to the Pilot Vessel Golden Gate, under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Southampton, Hampshire. L/S of the ships and boats in a busy harbour. C/U shot of a nice looking old ship. Camera pans to a couple of little ships - tugs. M/S of one of the tugs "Flying Kestrel" with its Captain Collingwood observing. M/S of "Queen Elizabeth" - the largest passenger liner in the world. "Seven tugs go into action when "Queen Elizabeth" leaves Southampton" - tells a voiceover. M/S of Captain Collingwood giving instructions on the bridge of "Flying Kestrel". M/S of the tug...

The Association of Maryland Pilots has ordered a new pilot boat from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, Duclos Corporation.