All ships over 60 gross tonnes, 20 metres in length or carrying more than 12 passengers entering the harbour must take a pilot on board. The pilot is there to advise the Captain so that the ship navigates safely into the harbour. The harbour workboat ERICA acting as pilot boat precedes the vessel into the harbour and may issue instructions to other vessels afloat.
During some acts of pilotage the harbour is closed to all other vessel movements. The Pilot will transmit a ‘Securite’ broadcast on VHF CH 16 inviting mariners to go to the harbour working channel VHF CH71 for a traffic information broadcast.
Shipping movements are normally posted on the our Facebook page and also appear in the Twitter feed shown on the right hand side of this website. For realtime AIS shipping information go to Marine Traffic or scroll around the map below.