Pilots News

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its report into the girting and capsize of tug Biter with the loss of two lives while assisting passenger vessel Hebridean Princess off Greenock, Scotland.At about 1527 on 24 February 2023, the twin screw conventional tug Biter girted and capsized while attached to the stern of the passenger vessel Hebridean Princess, which was making its approach to James Watt Dock.Girting occurs when high athwartships towing forces…

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published its preliminary assessment of the grounding of the general cargo vessel Baltic Arrow which ran aground on June 25, 2024 near New Dyke Farm on the River Nene while enroute to Wisbech, England.Baltic Arrow had set sail from Riga, Latvia, carrying a cargo of timber. The day before the grounding, the vessel anchored at the Wisbech anchorage off the east coast of England. At 0540 the following day, Baltic Arrow weighed anchor and proceeded to the pilot station where two pilots boarded at 0700.

The breakaway and grounding of an oil tanker in the Brisbane River, Australia, in February 2022 illustrates the importance of clearly defined emergency and risk management arrangements, according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report.On February 27, 2022, during a period of heavy, sustained rainfall and flooding in south-east Queensland, the 185-meter Hong Kong-flagged oil products tanker CSC Friendship was berthed at the Ampol products wharf in the Port of Brisbane…

The International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA), which represents over 50 member countries, is partnering with the Canadian National Centre of Expertise on Maritime Pilotage (NCEMP) and the Canadian Coast Guard to evaluate the feasibility of remote pilotage.The work aims to provide authoritative insights into the current and potential use of remote pilotage on conventional ships and those that might be navigated remotely or by software with autonomy in the future.The project will study pilotage as a socio-technical system and the impact of any new protocols on risk…

Danelec and leading Danish piloting company DanPilot have revealing the result of a key strategic partnership at the European Maritime Day conference in Svendborg, Denmark. They have new technology that integrates operational and navigation solutions, allowing for safe piloting without requiring a pilot to board the ship.Danelec has been collecting vessel and navigation data on commercial vessels for 30 years. Today, vessel data can be sent to the cloud and displayed in near real-time ashore.

A pilot maneuvering a vessel too close to a bank, before a turn on the Cooper River led to the collapse of a 300-foot section of pier at Joint Base Charleston’s Naval Weapons Station in South Carolina, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Tuesday.The 600-foot-long tanker Bow Triumph—owned by Goldex Fortune Ltd. and operated by Odfjell Management AS— struck Naval Weapons Station Pier B while transiting the Joint Base Charleston Channel on Sept. 5, 2022, A Charleston Branch Pilots Association pilot was navigating the vessel, which sustained significant damage to the bow.

The tail rotor of an Agusta A109 struck a handrail while landing on a bulk carrier as the pilot did not detect the obstacle, and the ship’s crew were using an older version of the vessel’s helicopter operations checklist, reports the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).An ATSB investigation report details that the A109E helicopter was conducting marine pilot transfer operations to the bulk carrier Tai Keystone, which was about 240 km north-east of Mackay, Queensland, on December 6…

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has successfully prosecuted a ship's master and shipping company after a pilot was injured while embarking on a Panama-flagged general cargo ship.The pilot was attempting to embark the Boshi 58 on May 25, 2023, but was seriously injured when the pilot ladder broke during the transfer.The Boshi 58's master and the shipping company, Fu Ye Shipping, pled guilty and were fined $5,300 and $32,000 respectively for failing to ensure pilot transfer arrangements complied with the relevant Marine Order and the Navigation Act 2012.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has issued as Pilot Advisory Note advising coastal pilots and pilotage providers about the existence of counterfeit pilot ladders and associated certification.In March 2019, one of AMSA’s Port Marine Surveyors identified a pilot ladder onboard a vessel which appeared to be non-compliant with the pilot transfer requirements. The associated inspection certificate presented at the time of the AMSA inspection, suggested that the ladder…

From July 10 to August 9, 2023, the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control conducted a Focused Inspection Campaign on pilot transfer arrangements.The campaign was part of a trial of an alternative approach to the regular Concentrated Inspection Campaigns by conducting several short, targeted inspection campaigns referred to as Focused Inspection Campaigns. In the coming months more such campaigns are scheduled. After completion of the trials, the results…

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its 2022 annual report which includes details of its investigation into pilot ladder safety.The MAIB canvassed 105 UK Competent Harbour Authorities, and this revealed that almost 700 marine pilots conducted over 96,000 transfers underway using a pilot ladder, during which there were over 400 incidents or accidents.Just over half of these were reported to the MAIB, the most serious of which resulted in the pilot suffering…

The Panama Maritime Authority has submitted its accident investigation report on the Ever Given to the IMO which includes the conclusion that “the Captain has command of the ship at all times.”On 23 March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days after the grounding of Ever Given between March 23 and March 29, 2021. The 20,000 TEU container vessel was struck by strong winds and ended up wedged across the waterway with its bow and stern stuck in the canal banks, blocking all traffic until it could be freed.A critical time period in the incident occurred at about 07:38 HRS / LT.

A grounding incident was avoided thanks to swift action by a team of harbor tugs and pilots aboard a Panamanian registered containership that lost power in Southampton, U.K., according to a local pilots group.At around 11 a.m. on January 26, the 20,000 TEU containership MOL Treasure departed the Port of Southampton bound for Le Harve, amid good, though gusty, weather conditions, with clear visibility and calm seas. But not more than an hour into the passage, the 400-meter-long MOL Treasure developed a significant reduction in engine power.An escort tug was already present…

A PSA Marine harbor pilot died after falling from a vessel off Singapore's Southern Islands, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.MPA said its Marine Safety Control Center received notification at about 2:50 a.m. on February 11 that a pilot had fallen overboard while disembarking from a tugboat to board a PSA Marine launch boat. The pilot was said to be wearing a lifejacket at the time of the incident.Search and rescue operations commenced immediately, with MPA…

Sandy Hook Pilots Association welcomed its new Pilot Station Boat New York, a converted Oil Spill Response Vessel (OSRV), which, at 208 feet long, is the largest in the Sandy Hook Pilots fleet.While welcoming the its new addition, Sandy Hook Pilots retired its predecessor, also named New York, which has been a familiar sight in the Port of New York and New Jersey harbor for nearly 50 years.On February 3, the new P/B New York sailed to its new home, the Sandy Hook Pilot base in Staten Island…

Francois Mayor nudged back on the power and made a subtle adjustment on the wheel as he coaxed his cargo vessel through a narrow point in the Suez Canal—not the Egyptian one, but a replica in the middle of a French forest.This stretch of water was built to train ship captains and maritime pilots how to navigate the Suez Canal—a skill now in the spotlight after the Ever Given cargo ship got wedged in the Egyptian waterway last month in high winds and a sandstorm.The channel is built to one twenty-fifth the scale of a section of the real Suez Canal.