The pilotage is not so much the problem here but the unseaworthiness of the combination of push tug and barge is. This is clearly shown by the incident with the Jake Shearer where with some heavy weather, to be expected in those waters, the system dramatically failed.
It is chilling to read that after this incident it was business as usual. The trade went on as if nothing had happened. No real tow winches fitted, no skiff on the tug, no improvement of the hooking up arrangement. The marine world is a totally different environment from the world of aviation with a kind of backward mentality. We seem to learn nothing from the past.