Pilot Fabio Fontes in action - 04/03/2023

The Virginia Pilot Association has taken delivery of a Chesapeake Class MK II launch from Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding, its ninth pilot boat built by the Somerset, Mass., shipyard since 1983.

Since the Chesapeake Class pilot boat was introduced by the Somerset, Mass., shipyard in 2003, 22 boats have been delivered to 11 pilot associations throughout the United States.

Barracuda comes to shepherd SS Shieldhall into Poole harbour on the 4th of September 2021. The day the biplane crashed in front of the Haven Hotel at Sandbanks.

French shipbuilder OCEA today launched the first of twenty "OCEA FPB 98 MKI" patrol boats for the State Border Guard service of Ukraine at its shipyard in Les Sables d'Olonne. ===================== In November 2019, an intergovernmental agreement between France and Ukraine has been signed to support the reinforcement of the maritime safety and security in Ukraine. OCEA won the international consultation launched by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior. The acquisition contract is for 20...

Helicopter services company NHV Group has won a contract extension with the Dutch Maritime Pilot’s Association (Nederlandse loodsencorporatie) to support maritime pilotage services in the Netherlands.

It turns out that supertankers and cruise ships have valets. They're called maritime pilots, and they're among the most elite ship handlers in the world. So where does one go to learn how to park the largest ships in the world? To the Maritime Pilots Institute in Covington, La. There, they use mini-versions of the behemoth boats to teach the basics. All aboard!