The breakaway and subsequent grounding of oil products tanker CSC Friendship in the Port of Brisbane highlights that port infrastructure and associated shipping can be exposed to dynamic hazards, which includes the inherent uncertainty of extreme weather forecasts.

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.

The pilot at Nagasaki Port fell into the water at around 0530 Tokyo time on 5 May while boarding the cruise ship DIAMOND PRINCESS, which was about to enter Nagasaki.

Video: Climbing the pilot ladder, the pilot is hit by Pilot Boat.

Columbia River Bar pilot transfer using helicopter from Articulated Tug and Barge Island Monarch / Island Trader, April 29, 2021 near Astoria, Oregon, USA.

From that moment on I have been keeping a tally of the non compliant boarding arrangements I see in front of me on a daily base, and off course I participate in the annual safety campaign, conducted by IMPA each october.

Does the growth of ships ever have limits? Perhaps less in shipbuilding than in the handling of the ships during piloting.