21 December 2023

Safety Insights Paper – Pilot Ladder Arrangements 2

RightShip announces tiered RightFLEET system to provide ship owners and managers with essential data for enhanced operations

RightShip, a leading global environmental, social and governance (ESG) focused digital maritime platform, is proud to announce the launch of three new subscription tiers to its data and services for owners and managers: RightFLEET Starter, RightFLEET Lite, and RightFLEET Enterprise. This new tiered model ensures that ship owners and managers of all fleet sizes have access to essential RightShip insights and data.

Observations

Over the past two years, RightShip has reviewed more than 21,000 PSC inspections, assessed over 2,500 incidents, and inspected over 4,600 vessels. This is in addition to the reviewing a large number of SIRE reports as part of the vetting process. Despite the industry’s efforts and campaigns to educate, we have observed an upward trend in deficiencies and non-conformities involving pilot ladders and arrangements. The data gathered from RightShip Inspections indicates that the pilot ladder related non-conformity percentage rate is in excess of 16%. Some of the recurring observations include, but are not limited to:

  • Pilot ladders secured to deck with shackles, deck tongues, or bars so that the weight is transferred to the steps and not to the stronger side ropes.
  • Ladder secured with ropes which are not strong enough to carry the weight.
  • Ladder not secured to a designated strong point (secured to railings or other unsuitable structures).
  • Ladder rigged over the sharp deck edge damaging side ropes.
  • Broken, worn out, or non-horizontal steps or spreaders.
  • Pilot ladder side ropes not of proper size, frayed, deteriorated, or found with splices.
  •