Cargo ship crushes tugboat in Panama Canal

Port operations, whether these are being performed on water or on land, are often not without risk. Pilots boarding a ship while sailing, navigating through narrow passages, collision avoidance with other smaller or larger vessels, discharging and moving cargo on land, walking between container handling equipment and trucks…

Apparently there were two crew members on board, but no pilot. One of crew was recovered and declared dead, another one, skipper of the boat, is missing.

On March 15, 2021, about 1302 local time, the oil tanker Riverside with a crew of 21 and 2 pilots was transiting outbound from the port of Corpus Christi, near Ingleside, Texas, in a loaded condition when the vessel lost propulsion and struck the no. 4 loading dock at the Moda Ingleside Energy Center. 1 No pollution or injuries were reported. Damage to the vessel was estimated at $550,000. The estimated property damage to the facility was $7 million.

Dredger OCEANLINE 5001 sailing at full speed struck anchored tanker STROVOLOS with moored alongside supply vessel, at around 1140 LT (UTC +8) Oct 2, on Melaka anchorage, Malaysia, Malacca Strait. The results can be seen on video – tanker suffered portside hull breach above waterline and apparently, some damage on cargo deck.

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

USAID, through its Economic Resilience Activity (ERA), delivered a second pilot boat "Lotsman Bolotin" to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA) to improve the efficiency and safety of pilots moving to and from vessels navigating the Danube ports.

In this video I am performing a job on Commencement Bay in Tacoma. I am picking up a Pilot and dropping him off on an inbound ship so he can bring it to the dock safely.

The seaport of Nouakchott, Mauritania, is experiencing problems related to wind and swell, risks of grounding due to unreliable berth depths, harbour infrastructure damage claims, an acceptance of the vessel's draught survey figures and shortage claims.

Unless you were paying attention on your last cruise, you might have missed the pilot boat bringing the pilot out to your cruise ship.

These are images that no one wants to see. How can people take such a risk and behave so unprofessionally? Purely a matter of luck whether you come home again in the evening!