One in Two Fishing Vessels Failed. The Rest Aren't Much Better.

4,051 Inspections. One Number Barely Moved.

The International Maritime Pilots' Association's 2026 Safety Campaign gathered 4,051 pilot transfer arrangement entries from members in 34 countries — the largest dataset of its kind. The headline: overall non-compliance improved only slightly, to 13%. Pilot ladders remained the single leading source of failure, with 35% of all non-compliant observations involving a ladder not secured to strongpoints.

The Numbers by Vessel Type

The spread is wide. General cargo ships recorded 13% non-compliance — right at the average. RoRo cargo vessels came in lowest at 9%. ROPAX and other passenger vessels were notably worse, at 22%. Fishing vessels were worst of all: a 50% non-compliance rate. Half of all fishing vessel pilot transfer arrangements inspected failed to meet requirements.

Why “Not Secured to Strongpoints” Keeps Recurring

A pilot ladder that isn't properly secured to a strongpoint isn't a minor paperwork issue — it's the specific failure mode most likely to result in a pilot falling during transfer, in exactly the conditions (darkness, weather, vessel motion) where there's no margin for error. That this remains the leading non-compliance category, year after year, points to a rigging habit problem more than a knowledge gap: crews know the requirement, but the checking discipline before every transfer isn't consistently applied.

What Every Deck Officer Should Take From This

• Treat pilot ladder rigging as a pre-transfer check every single time, not a task assumed correct because it was correct last time
• Strongpoint securing specifically is where inspections keep finding failures — make it the first thing you verify, not the last
• If your vessel type sits in a higher-risk category (passenger, fishing), the data says your margin for a rigging mistake is statistically thinner than average, not wider
• A Letter of Protest or delay for re-rigging costs far less than the alternative

Related Reading

• Gangway, Tender, Shore — the same rigging discipline applies to every access point, not just pilot ladders
• Regulatory awareness that touches every deck officer's daily decisions