From the bridge
RSSPractical maritime compliance.
Plain-English writing for commercial operators — USCG rules, Sub M, STCW, cyber, and the free tools we built along the way. No regulatory fog. No SEO filler.
Off the Paper Board: How a Pilots Association Goes Digital
Most pilots associations know the VHF-and-paper board has limits, but the move to a digital dispatch system feels like a project. It doesn't have to be. Here's a low-risk path that runs the new board alongside the old one until the desk trusts it.
How Pilotage Billing Works: Tariffs, Gross Tonnage, Draft, and Detention
Pilotage doesn't bill by the hour. It bills by a tariff driven by gross tonnage and draft, plus detention and standby — and the invoice has to tie back to the transit. Here's how association billing actually works and where it leaks money.
Pilot Ladder Safety: SOLAS V/23, the Boarding Check, and When to Refuse
Boarding is the most dangerous moment of a pilot's day. SOLAS V/23 and IMO A.1045 set the rules; this is the practical rigging checklist, the common non-conformities, and how to make 'refuse boarding' a documented decision rather than a judgment call.
Pilot Fatigue and Rest: Building a Rotation You Can Defend
Pilot fatigue is a leading contributor to pilotage incidents, and unlike a ship's crew, pilots are dispatched one job at a time at all hours. Here's how to think about rest rules, why 'next up' should skip an unfit pilot automatically, and how to make the rotation auditable.
OSV Compliance: The Subchapter L Operator's Requirements
Offshore supply vessels live under Subchapter L, with manning, stability, cargo, and credential requirements that reflect the offshore service they run. Here's the compliance picture for an OSV operator and where the recurring burden sits.
New York / New Jersey Pilotage: Dispatch from Ambrose to the Kill Van Kull
Sandy Hook pilots board offshore at Ambrose and take ships through one of the busiest, most complex harbors in the country — including the Kill Van Kull, a narrow, current-swept reach under an air-draft-critical bridge to the largest container terminals on the East Coast. Here's the dispatch challenge.
NAIS vs. Commercial AIS: Choosing the Data Source for Pilot Dispatch
Your dispatch board is only as good as its AIS feed. Terrestrial commercial feeds, satellite AIS, and the Coast Guard's Nationwide AIS each have different coverage, latency, and cost. Here's how to choose — and why some districts only work on NAIS.
The Master-Pilot Exchange (MPX): What It Covers and How to Standardize It
The Master-Pilot Exchange is the most important conversation on the bridge — and the one most often left to memory. Here's what a complete MPX covers, why investigators look for it, and how to make it a repeatable card instead of an ad-hoc chat.
The Digital Master–Pilot Exchange Card: A Defensible Record of the Bridge Brief
When a loaded ship touches a dock, the P&I club asks what was agreed on the bridge. A sealed digital MPX answers it.
Houston Ship Channel Pilotage: Dispatch in One of the Busiest Waterways in America
The Houston Ship Channel pairs enormous petrochemical traffic with a long, narrow, two-way-restricted channel and frequent fog closures. Dispatching it is an exercise in managing congestion and meeting situations. Here's the challenge and what helps.
Crew Credential Tracking: Why the Spreadsheet Fails a Growing Fleet
Every small operator starts tracking MMCs, TWICs, and medicals in a spreadsheet. It works until it doesn't — and the failure mode is an expired credential discovered during a boarding. Here's why the spreadsheet breaks and what replaces it.
Cook Inlet Pilotage: Dispatching Some of Alaska's Hardest Water
Cook Inlet pairs some of the largest tides in North America with effectively no commercial AIS coverage — a brutal combination for a dispatch desk. Here's what makes the district so demanding and what a purpose-built board does about the tide and the data gap.