Storms, waves and risky maneuvers - The most dangerous job in the North Sea? | DW Documentary

Marine pilots must make crucial decisions under extreme conditions. Transferring from a cargo ship to a small pilot boat in hurricane-force gusts can be fatal.

For marine pilots, this is the most dangerous moment in their daily working lives: climbing down a rope ladder from a cargo ship in gale-force gusts, and transferring to a small pilot boat. In mid-January, a pilot fell into the sea off Borkum and was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia. Just a few days earlier, a British colleague died during a similar maneuver.

Harbor pilot Gerhard Janssen and sea pilot Dominik Thieben are getting ready for their assignment. In force 8 winds, they set off in the pilot boat to the cargo ship "Silver Soul". They must guide it safely out of the harbor, along the Ems River in northern Germany, and out into the North Sea. They face oncoming traffic, poor visibility and a narrow channel that leaves little room to maneuver. Off the island of Borkum, a pilot boat will pick them up and take them back to shore. Transferring vessels in a storm can be fatal.

Whether the ship can sail at all depends on the waves. Otherwise, the pilots will have to be picked up by helicopter, which can withstand winds of up to force 11 on the Beaufort scale. This corresponds to a hurricane-force storm, with winds of over 100 kilometers per hour. The pilots are hauled into the helicopter by a rope. With every maneuver, the pilots and crew -- both on the pilot boats and in the helicopter -- must decide how much risk they are prepared to take.


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