SPINDLETOP

SPINDLETOP

One of the largest high-speed aluminum pilot boats in North America is now operating in Sabine Pass. The 90-by-23-foot Spindletop was delivered to the Sabine Pilots of Port Arthur, Texas, in March 2021. Breaux’s Bay Craft of Loreauville, La., built the vessel using an in-house design. It is named for an oil field discovered in 1901 near Beaumont, Texas, that ignited the…
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FELLS POINT

FELLS POINT

The Association of Maryland Pilots developed a new pilot boat class specifically for work around Baltimore Harbor. The 48.5-foot aluminum Fells Point is the lead vessel in the pilots’ Baltimore class. Ray Hunt Design and Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding collaborated on the vessel, which replaces the nearly 40-year-old Vedette. Fells Point incorporates the best from the Maryland pilots’ larger Chesapeake-class launches. It is nimble, quick and…
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Sandy Hook pilots converting spill response vessel into station boat

Sandy Hook pilots converting spill response vessel into station boat

The Sandy Hook Pilots Association is in the final months of an unusual conversion project, transforming a deactivated 28-year-old oil spill response vessel (OSRV) to replace the pilot boat New York, the largest and oldest vessel operated by the group. For close to a decade, the association had been considering possibilities for replacing New York, an Ambrose-class station boat that…
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Larger, faster Sabine pilot boat built to go the distance

Larger, faster Sabine pilot boat built to go the distance

Oil has fueled the Texas economy since the Spindletop field near Beaumont began gushing at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day in 1901. This year, Breaux’s Bay Craft of Loreauville, La., delivered Spindletop, a 90-foot pilot boat, to the Sabine Pilots of Port Arthur, Texas. Spindletop was conceived and built to keep pace with growth in the petroleum trade,…
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Piloting, still an exclusive maritime club, hones an educational track

Piloting, still an exclusive maritime club, hones an educational track

Pilots represent a small fraction of U.S. mariners, but their impact — safely guiding up to 90 percent of goods into the nation’s ports — is immense. While experience remains the most valuable component of pilotage, training has evolved to assume a larger role in developing successful careers. What does it take to become a pilot? The central feature of…
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