A pilot ladder is a highly specialized form of

rope ladder A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly c ...

, typically used on board

cargo vessel A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s for the purposes of embarking and disembarking

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

. The design and construction of the ladders is tightly specified by international regulation under the SOLAS regime.

Construction

The ladders are made by threading and fixing a series of

hardwood Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...

machined Machining is a process in which a material (often metal) is cut to a desired final shape and size by a controlled material-removal process. The processes that have this common theme are collectively called subtractive manufacturing, which utilizes ...

steps, each not more than , onto two pairs of minimum diameter manila ropes, and binding each step to the ropes at (+- ) intervals. At a maximum interval of eight steps, the standard step is replaced by a ''spreader'', which is an elongated version of the standard machined step, with a minimum length of . The spreader's function is to prevent the ladder from twisting in the prevailing weather conditions when in use. The lowest four steps of the ladder are normally made from a synthetic or

composite resin Dental composite resins (better referred to as "resin-based composites" or simply "filled resins") are dental cements made of synthetic resins. Synthetic resins evolved as restorative materials since they were insoluble, of good tooth-like appea ...

, which is more resistant than hardwood, to the interaction between the host vessel and the

pilot boat A pilot boat is a type of boat used to