A marine pilot was killed while boarding a merchant ship earlier this month in the Humber Estuary on the east coast of northern England.
Francisco Galia had been working for Associated British Ports for more than 20 years and was on the edge of retirement when he fell off the boarding ladder of a large ship entering the estuary. A second pilot from the pilot boat jumped into the water and was able to maneuver Galia back on board.
A medevac took Galia to the hospital, but he did not survive.
The UK Pilots Association said “This tragedy highlights the risks and challenges faced by maritime pilots every day they go to work…transferring from one vessel to another by nothing more than a rope ladder. This is always a risky procedure.”
It urged the industry “to prioritize safety and training with regard to the transfer of pilots and crew, and to invest in safe and reliable technologies and procedures.”
SOLAS regulations provide specific measures for pilot ladder arrangements and equipment, but apparently they are not always followed.
“The movement of the pilot boat bringing the pilot alongside, the ship’s motion, and the potential for equipment failure require precise timing and coordination of the ship and the pilot vessel, and the exact judgment of the pilot as they step from one moving platform another moving platform, often in pitching darkness in the dead of night,” the association said. Read more:
https://maritime-executive.com/article/pilot-killed-in-boarding-accident-on-the-humber
