Two cruise ships anchored at the Port of the Moon in Bordeaux
Gironde pilots are required to maneuver vessels of a wide variety of types and sizes, ranging from coasters barely 70 meters long to large cruise ships nearly 300 meters long, as well as oil tankers and bulk carriers measuring 250 meters.

They also assist towed convoys, large sailing ships that occasionally visit our estuary, and military vessels.

From a certain ship size, they may resort to one or more tugboats to carry out berthing or unberthing maneuvers.
Cruise ship maneuvering on the Garonne near the Aquitaine BridgeManeuvering with a tugboatBulk carrier maneuverColbert maneuverManeuver with tugboatsManeuver with tugboats