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!

Rose Festival Fleet week is here

Today, an overview of what ships we'll see here in the river for Fleet Week, a cherished part of the annual Rose Festival in Portland.
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More on ship running lights at night

Today we hear more from retired Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson about lights on ships at night, including some interesting detail about bar pilot boardings in the ocean at night. We'll hear about measures taken on board ships so that pilots and their...
More

The bulbous bow

We see this every day on the river and probably don't notice it. But it's a really important design feature on all the ships we see: the bulbous bow.    
More

Running lights, vital equipment for night time travel on the water

Today we take a look back in the Ship Report archives to an interview about running lights, with retired Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Robert Johnson.
More

The wonderful back story of a “mystery ship”

Folks were tlaking recently about a ship that appeared off the coast in the ocean off Cannon Beach and appeared to be running back and forth up and down the coast in a small area. While it turned out to be one of our Military Sealift Command vessels waiting for a...
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

Curated Links

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Local
Maritime
NOAA
Photos
Tsunami
Video
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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Ship Report Podcasts

Rose Festival Fleet week is here

Today, an overview of what ships we'll see here in the river for Fleet Week, a cherished part of the annual Rose Festival in Portland.
Listen

More on ship running lights at night

Today we hear more from retired Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson about lights on ships at night, including some interesting detail about bar pilot boardings in the ocean at night. We'll hear about measures taken on board ships so that pilots and their...
Listen

The bulbous bow

We see this every day on the river and probably don't notice it. But it's a really important design feature on all the ships we see: the bulbous bow.    
Listen

Running lights, vital equipment for night time travel on the water

Today we take a look back in the Ship Report archives to an interview about running lights, with retired Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Robert Johnson.
Listen

The wonderful back story of a “mystery ship”

Folks were tlaking recently about a ship that appeared off the coast in the ocean off Cannon Beach and appeared to be running back and forth up and down the coast in a small area. While it turned out to be one of our Military Sealift Command vessels waiting for a...
Listen

10-Minute Ship Reports: Monday through Thursday, featuring  Daily Ship Traffic, Marine Weather, News and Interviews Ship Report Minutes:  On Fridays, where we answer listener questions. Short and sweet!

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.