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It’s a Pacific Northwest kind of week: rain, ships and fog horns
Today we’ll talk about (and hear) some of the most familiar things we experience here on the river: rain, ships and fog horns.
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Rose Festival Fleet finale, as ships head downriver and out to sea
Today we’ll talk about the Rose Festival Fleet ships leaving the seawall in Portland, where they spent the weekend giving tours to visitors. They’ll depart along with another military ship, the USNS Watkins, which has been in Astoria the past few days.
They are the US Navy destroyer USS Chafee, and the Canadian Navy ship the HMCS Max Bernays.
We’ll also talk about the weather conditions these ships will encounter when they leave the river, and why marine weather forecasts are so important.
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Fleet Week Thursday: Tours begin on Rose Festival Ships in Portland
One final wrap up today on the Rose Festival Fleet which begins tours today in Portland.
Ships are located on the seawall in Tom McCall Park, 10-4. Get there early because tours end promptly at 4 and if you are waiting on land at 4 you may not get in.
And I also wanted to share again that I learned some updated information yesterday from the Rose Festival Website that indicates that you need Real ID to board for a tour. Here’s what it says on the Fleet Week page: “When arriving for public tours, all visitors will be required to present a REAL ID-compliant government-issued photo identification (see approved identification list below), and pass through an airport-style security screening checkpoint prior to boarding the ships. A temporary form of ID is not an acceptable form of identification.”
For all the current information about Fleet Week events, go to the festival website at rosefestival.org, and click on the Fleet Week link at the top of the homepage.
On Monday depending on what time they depart, we could see the USS Chafee and the HMCS Max Bernays heading downriver, I’ll keep you posted on that on Monday’s show and also any updates on the Ship Report Facebook and Substack pages.
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Fleet Week Wednesday – Rose Festival Fleet Week ships arrive in Portland
All of the ships arriving from offshore heading to Portland are now in the River. Today we will look at the ships that will be in Portland this weekend for the Rose Festival. We’ll also talk about what happens when visiting ships arrive in Portland, and how they are greeted, with open drawbridges and a fire boat ceremonial display.
Ship tours are happening Thursday through Sunday, 10-4, at Tom McCall Park on the Willamette River. Get there early because tours end promptly at 4.
An update on what you’ll need to board: The Fleet Week page now specifies this: “When arriving for public tours, all visitors will be required to present a REAL ID-compliant government-issued photo identification (see approved identification list below), and pass through an airport-style security screening checkpoint prior to boarding the ships. A temporary form of ID is not an acceptable form of identification.”
See the Fleet Week page on the rose festival website to see the list of documents that are considered acceptable ID. https://www.rosefestival.org/events/2026/fleetweek
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Fleet Week Tuesday
Ships are starting to arrive in the river for the Portland Rose Festival; they’re the part of the festival referred to as Fleet Week. I’ll be tracking the ships as they arrive and sharing that information here. Today two ships head upriver: the Canadian Navy ship the HMCS Max Bernays passed Astoria inbound this morning to Portland and will be in Portland by early afternoon, and around 7:30am the USS Chafee leaves the Port of Astoria headed for Portland.
Both ships will be on the Seawall at Tom McCall Park in Portland, open for tours starting later this week. For more info, see https://www.rosefestival.org/events/2026/fleetweek
Also, the USNS Watkins, a Military Sealift Command vehicle carrier, should be at the Port of Astoria this afternoon around 2:30 pm. She left the river yesterday after departing from Vancouver, but will be back today at the port here in town.
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It’s Rose Festival Fleet week on the Columbia
This week we’ll begin seeing ships arriving to head to Portland for the Rose Festival as part of the Festival Fleet.
One ship is already in town on Astoria: the USS Chafee, a Navy destroyer, which will head to Portland around midnight tonight. I’ll announce other ships as they appear on the schedule and include them in the ship schedule I publish during the week.
You can tour ships in Portland this weekend. For more info see the Festival Website and click on the Fleet page: rosefestival.org
Photo: Rose Festival Fleet arrivals are greeted by the city’s fireboat.
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A look at patterns in our ship traffic and the river system
We see a lot of the same kinds of ships here, going to a set series of places. Today we’ll talk about different kinds of ships, and ports, and the inland water highway that makes much of our commerce possible.
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A look at Astoria’s annual Memorial Day tribute to mariners
Today we’ll take a look at a memorial day commemoration that happened here in Astoria on Monday. This event has, in fact, happened each year, for many years.
Family and friends gather on the banks of the Columbia for the annual Uniontown Association Maritime Memorial Day Ceremony. It happens on Memorial Day each year at 3 pm, rain or shine.
The ceremony takes place at the Maritime Memorial, located on Bay Street, under the Astoria Megler Bridge. I attended this year, and I’ll share some sound from the event, and my impressions of what I saw and heard.
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Memorial Day update
Today’s report is a short update – since it’s a holiday. But there are a few things I want to let you know about:
- Sneaker wave warning for area beaches
- Rain in the forecast
- And about that mysterious heavy lift ship that was in the Astoria Anchorage on Sunday.
I’m taking a little extra break this week, so the Ship Report will return as usual on Wednesday. See you then!
Some interesting maritime cargo industry terms: “tramp” and “liner” ships
We can observe a lot about the ships we see going by, but there’s a lot we can’t tell as well. One of those things is how they do business.
Today we’ll talk about two common maritime cargo industry terms: the concept of a “tramp” ship and a “liner” vessel.
So ships may look the same on the outside, but their business models are very different. One way to tell is to observe them over time.
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