Pilot Boat – Professional Mariner

31 Oct

SPINDLETOP

Professional Mariner StaffAmerican Ship Review, Pilot Boat

One of the largest high-speed aluminum pilot boats in North America is now operating in Sabine Pass. The 90-by-23-foot Spindletop was delivered to the Sabine Pilots of Port Arthur, Texas, in March 2021. Breaux’s Bay Craft of Loreauville, La., built the vessel using an in-house design. It is named for an oil field discovered in 1901 near Beaumont, Texas, that ignited the…

31 Oct

FELLS POINT

Professional Mariner StaffAmerican Ship Review, Pilot Boat

The Association of Maryland Pilots developed a new pilot boat class specifically for work around Baltimore Harbor. The 48.5-foot aluminum Fells Point is the lead vessel in the pilots’ Baltimore class. Ray Hunt Design and Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding collaborated on the vessel, which replaces the nearly 40-year-old Vedette. Fells Point incorporates the best from the Maryland pilots’ larger Chesapeake-class launches. It is nimble, quick and…

31 Oct

FIRE/PILOTS/PATROL

Professional Mariner StaffAmerican Ship Review, Fire Boat, Patrol Boat, Pilot Boat

The Los Angeles Pilot Service serves the busiest seaport in the United States. Two new launches will help its pilots move more efficiently and more comfortably from ship to ship. The 55-by-19-foot Angels Pilot and Angels Navigator replace two smaller vessels built 26 years ago by Willard Marine. Vigor Industrial built the new pilot boats in Vancouver, Wash., using proven…

01 Jun

Sandy Hook pilots converting spill response vessel into station boat

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Pilot BoatFeeney Shipyard, Maine Responder, New York, OSRV, Sandy Hook Pilots Association

The Sandy Hook Pilots Association is in the final months of an unusual conversion project, transforming a deactivated 28-year-old oil spill response vessel (OSRV) to replace the pilot boat New York, the largest and oldest vessel operated by the group. For close to a decade, the association had been considering possibilities for replacing New York, an Ambrose-class station boat that…

01 Jun

Larger, faster Sabine pilot boat built to go the distance

Professional Mariner StaffPilot Boat, Vessels at WorkLNG, mariners, maritime industry, maritime news, Port Arthur, Sabine Pilots, Spindletop, Texas

Oil has fueled the Texas economy since the Spindletop field near Beaumont began gushing at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day in 1901. This year, Breaux’s Bay Craft of Loreauville, La., delivered Spindletop, a 90-foot pilot boat, to the Sabine Pilots of Port Arthur, Texas. Spindletop was conceived and built to keep pace with growth in the petroleum trade,…

01 Apr

Piloting, still an exclusive maritime club, hones an educational track

Professional Mariner StaffPilot Boat, Trends and Currents

Pilots represent a small fraction of U.S. mariners, but their impact — safely guiding up to 90 percent of goods into the nation’s ports — is immense. While experience remains the most valuable component of pilotage, training has evolved to assume a larger role in developing successful careers. What does it take to become a pilot? The central feature of…