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Easy to go big Bear

Biden didn’t think it was photoshopped!

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I wouldn't jump too fast. It's being charged $9 billion a day at the moment.

I agree. Vlad was just towing a rowboat.

So....not free?
😉

Well at least the toilet paper will make it to the shelves in time to avert another crisis.

So who is getting charged? The ship company didn’t pilot the ship in the canal. Wonder who would pay that fine?

Clyde

LOL

This is my question. The pilots are required to be from the Egyptian office that operates the canal, so... who’s going to get the blame - themselves? Naw. Be an act of Allah, or some such. Multiply that by Arab face saving culture - gonna be an interesting “explanation” sweeping this one under the flying carpet.

‘Course, even given all that, it’ll still be more believable than the WHO’s Chinese wu flu investigation!

First let me say this, I don't know anything about shipping, boats made for shipping, captains licenses, or anything else about boats bigger than one can tow with a 1/2tn pickup.

Are you saying that there is a fleet of pilots who's only job is to pilot ships through the canal? The ship's normal captain doesn't do that?

That's exactly right. Yes, when a ship enters the canal, they put a specially trained pilot aboard to guide it through. This is common in many ports and canals. It's done here in the US, too, on the MIssissippi, Columbia, and most other rivers.

On the Mississippi here in south Louisiana, there is a town called "Pilot Town". As you can guess, the river pilots get on and off of the ships when they hit the mouth of the river. This is done by boat to ship transfer. No matter the weather. Have seen this first hand.
Also, river pilots only run a certain part of the river. If a ship is going from the mouth of the Mississippi to say Baton Rouge, there may be more than one pilot that run that ship. The Miss. is an ever changing creature, and you had better know where every turn, and sand bar is. The river boat pilots make one hell of a living. Granted, they are in charge of a great deal of responsibility also. And you don't just become a river pilot. It's a very tight group. A lot of them are family members. It's a huge money making operation.


Clyde

Yes. All countries that I know of have compulsory pilotage requirements for foreign merchant vessels. The local ship handling nuances can be significant. The Mississippi River for example takes very specialized local knowledge that changes with the river stage. Controlling a down bound 800 foot ship in a 5 knot current sometimes requires steering input a mile ahead of a bend. Not all locales are that complicated, but most all require certain local knowledge to safely navigate.

On the Columbia River, pilots are required as far up as Pasco, WA, about 300 miles from the mouth. The current is strong and crossing the bar is infamous for wrecks.

The pilots are required to be very knowledgeable about the local channels. To pass the exam the pilot has to be able to draw the channel on a blank sheet of paper. It must include all depths , markers , bridge clearances , cross currents , and any other hazard.
Mistakes by pilots can be deadly and very expensive.

Most of the Caribbean too.

150 years ago, Mississippi river boat captains had to learn every twist, turn, and snag in the river. It changes constantly so they have to be constantly learning the latest. Sam Clements (Mark Twain) was one of them for a couple years. He'd just got started in the business when the Civil War shut down the river. That's when he went west and started writing seriously. They still had pilots are the river mouths, though. This was the up river part of it.

Crossed the bar on a big usn ship. Don’t remember exactly which one I was on going to the Rose festival.
Washed out people on the bank going through.
Had to dump anchor once or twice.

Do navy ships require pilots or just the commercial ones?

We used a pilot on the submarine entering and exiting port. I want to say there may have been some places we didn't but I'm not certain and it's been a long time. They would not take over for the Officer of the Deck but would be there to offer "advice". Our missile subs, if not identical, at least were very very similar, so once you got the hang of the advance and transfer for turns on one you had an idea what they all would do so there were standard landmarks to line up for your turns, etc. These transits were not especially hairy so it was not usually very exciting, but that's what you are looking for. Though I remember one time coming out of (I think) King's Bay the current was running so hard we had nearly a Standard rudder on to go in a straight line, and the boat was crabbing down the channel to a fairly uncomfortable degree.