The Ship Report is All Things Maritime!

Ship Report podcasts take you to a special corner of the world: the Mighty Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. Nautical lore, news and info, mariner interviews, daily international ship traffic, and the inside scoop on our formidable marine weather. Join maritime journalist Joanne Rideout on the Ship Report, as we explore the fascinating nautical world, on the Upper Left Edge of Oregon and beyond.  The Ship Report is proud to celebrate 20 years on the air!

Our weather continues, with a look at how vessels handle it at sea

That dangerous bomb cyclone storm is moving on to the north of us, leaving us with big seas for the next day or so. It was a close call... a storm packing hurricane force winds that somehow missed a direct hit on Oregon and Washington. Image courtesy Storm Radar....
More

Bomb cyclone with deep low pressure shapes our coastal weather this week

An intense low pressure storm called a bomb cyclone is churning out in the ocean a couple hundred miles offshore of the Oregon and Washington coast. While it's not predicted to make landfall here locally, it will send us some walloping winds, seas and rain. We'll talk...
More

The ubiquitious, but seldom noticed, Quonset hut

Today a look at a common but oft-overlooked maritime structure - the Quonset hut. First designed and built for the US Navy in 1941, they were styled after a WWI version called the Nissen hut. Once used in military installations during WWII, the Navy sold them surplus...
More

Who’s coming and going on the river today?

A look at today's complement of cargo vessels on the river.
More

As weather improves, a backlog of ships getting back to work

Whenever the Columbia River Bar at the mouth of the river temporarily becomes too dangerous to cross because of bad weather, the result a day or so later is a backlog of ships that have been waiting to leave or to arrive. That creates a steady stream of vessels, 24/7,...
More

Columbia River Ship Traffic

GO
Approximate Vessel Travel Times
  • Portland/Vancouver -Astoria: 6-8 hours
  • Kalama -Astoria: 5 hours
  • Longview -Astoria: 3.5 hours
  • Columbia River Bar – Astoria: 1.5 hours
Times vary according to tidal conditions, current, weather, and individual vessel horsepower.
Water Speed & Currents

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Tsunami
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Tides

When’s High Tide where you are?  Find Tidal info at www.saltwatertides.com

Tide times are often listed in 24 hour time.  For times after noon, subtract 1200 from the time to get regular clock time. Ex: 1300 hrs – 1200 = 1:00 pm)

MLLW:  Also, tides are referenced to Mean Lower Low Water, a reference point for depth on many nautical charts. MLLW is the average of the lower of the two low tides in a day, over a 19-year cycle. Minus tides are lower than MLLW.

Adjustments: If you’re right on the coast, subtract an hour from these times. Upriver, highs and lows happen later. For instance, in Knappa, add an hour. In Clatskanie, add 2 hours and 15 minutes.

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Our weather continues, with a look at how vessels handle it at sea

That dangerous bomb cyclone storm is moving on to the north of us, leaving us with big seas for the next day or so. It was a close call... a storm packing hurricane force winds that somehow missed a direct hit on Oregon and Washington. Image courtesy Storm Radar....
Listen

Bomb cyclone with deep low pressure shapes our coastal weather this week

An intense low pressure storm called a bomb cyclone is churning out in the ocean a couple hundred miles offshore of the Oregon and Washington coast. While it's not predicted to make landfall here locally, it will send us some walloping winds, seas and rain. We'll talk...
Listen

The ubiquitious, but seldom noticed, Quonset hut

Today a look at a common but oft-overlooked maritime structure - the Quonset hut. First designed and built for the US Navy in 1941, they were styled after a WWI version called the Nissen hut. Once used in military installations during WWII, the Navy sold them surplus...
Listen

Who’s coming and going on the river today?

A look at today's complement of cargo vessels on the river.
Listen

As weather improves, a backlog of ships getting back to work

Whenever the Columbia River Bar at the mouth of the river temporarily becomes too dangerous to cross because of bad weather, the result a day or so later is a backlog of ships that have been waiting to leave or to arrive. That creates a steady stream of vessels, 24/7,...
Listen

The Ship Report, the show about All Things Maritime, features maritime news and information, local and international, based in the Pacific Northwest in Astoria, Oregon. shipreport.net. Podcasts available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts

The Ship Report is also broadcast  Weekdays at 8:49 am on  KMUN Radio Astoria, Oregon

Columbia River Bar
Pacific NW Coast Bar Closure Info from NOAA.

Also on Facebook and Twitter (US Coast Guard).

“Pilot transfer” is when a pilot disembarks or boards a ship. Ships generally must by law have a river or bar pilot on board when they are on the Columbia or Willamette Rivers. The bar and river pilots have separate pilotage grounds defined by the Oregon Legislature.

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Meet Joanne Rideout
Producer Joanne Rideout is a journalist and photographer who created The Ship Report in 2003. Since then Joanne and has been interviewing, writing and photographing the maritime world and its interesting people as much as she possibly can.
Ship Horn Signals

Commonly Heard off Astoria

One prolonged blast every two minutes or less: vessel operating in fog.

Five consecutive horn blasts: warning signal that means literally “I do not know your intention.” This generally means another vessel is in the way of a ship in the channel, and is being asked to move before they collide.

Three short blasts: Vessel going in reverse

One long blast followed by three short: signal for the change of pilots.