Falmouth’s Atlantic Draws a Crowd at Seawork 2026

A working pilot boat rarely gets to sit still and be looked at. This week, Falmouth’s Atlantic got its turn.

Falmouth Harbour’s £1.6 million flagship pilot vessel has spent the week on display at Seawork in Southampton, where visitors were able to step aboard and meet the harbour team behind the boat that guides ships in and out of one of the UK’s premier deep-water ports.

📷Credit: Mikes Carden/Falmouth Harbour

Why Atlantic made the trip

The vessel steamed to Southampton as part of a collaboration with commercial vessel builder Holyhead Marine, joining more than 70 commercial vessels at Seawork, billed as Europe’s largest on-water commercial marine exhibition. The event, which ran from 9 to 11 June, draws around 7,800 maritime professionals from over 60 countries.

Those who stepped aboard could meet members of the Falmouth Harbour team and talk through pilotage operations, commercial shipping, maritime sustainability, port infrastructure and where the UK’s marine sector is heading next.

📷Credit: Mikes Carden/Falmouth Harbour

A working boat, not a show pony

Atlantic is not built for exhibition halls. Delivered in 2024, it works in all conditions, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, completing more than 1,000 boardings and landings every year alongside its sister ship Arrow. Together they transfer marine pilots to and from ships entering and leaving Falmouth, keeping cargo, fuel, cruise passengers and defence traffic moving.

The scale behind that is easy to underestimate. As an island nation, around 95% of UK trade by volume moves by sea.

Like the rest of the Falmouth Harbour workboat fleet, the Camarc-designed Atlantic runs on Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), which cuts lifecycle carbon emissions compared with conventional marine diesel.

Falmouth Harbour CEO Miles Carden said the boat proves ports do not have to choose between quality and sustainability.

“Pilot boats are often unseen by the public, but they are an essential part of the UK’s supply chain, supporting everything from international trade and energy security to cruise tourism and defence operations,” he said.

For Holyhead Marine, sending the vessel to Southampton was a point of pride. Project Manager Dan Firth said Atlantic, built in North Wales and designed specifically for the demands of pilotage work in Cornwall, “will play a vital role in supporting safe shipping movements, trade and economic activity for many years to come.”

📷Credit: Mikes Carden/Falmouth Harbour