On the safe pilotage of ship's with propulsion that can azimuth for steering

From the thrusters on smaller, but numerous, harbour support vessels through to the pod-drives on cruise ships and ocean going liners, azimuth control has rapidly established itself in the maritime industry. From the design of the ship, to the training of personnel and the development of operational procedures, the industry has risen to meet the demand. However, this rapid evolution has not allowed sufficient time for the propagation of knowledge throughout the different disciplines. On a day-to-day basis, maritime pilots must deal with such ships, coping as they do, with an as yet unstandardized environment. This paper presents the findings of an EU project (AZTPILOT) considering accidents and incidents and concerning the training and operational practice of ships equipped with Azimuth Control Devices (ACD's).