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!

A bit of weather coming in, and possible effects on the bar

We've got a bit of stormy weather coming in, and so a good time to answer a listener question about the Columbia River Bar and how sthip traffic is affected by weather.

USNS Matthew Perry arrives in the river this morning

Today we have a Military Sealift Command cargo ship headed to Portland to the shipyard at Swan Island for repairs and maintenance. We'll learn a little today about this interesting military vessel.

Lots of anchored ships today

Today we have an abundance of anchored ships on the river, so many that a couple are waiting offshore. We'll talk about how that can happen.

Who’s on the river today?

A look at today's ship traffic on the Columbia.

The Polar Star and Operation Deep Freeze

Each year the USCG heavy icebreaker Polar Star heads to Antarctica to spend the Northern Hemisphere winter opening a channel through the ice during the Antarctic summer. The ship has just completed her mission and is heading home to Seattle. We'll talk about why this...

Columbia River Ship Traffic

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

Arts
Tsunami
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.

The Ship Report
Ship Report Podcasts

A bit of weather coming in, and possible effects on the bar

We've got a bit of stormy weather coming in, and so a good time to answer a listener question about the Columbia River Bar and how sthip traffic is affected by weather.

USNS Matthew Perry arrives in the river this morning

Today we have a Military Sealift Command cargo ship headed to Portland to the shipyard at Swan Island for repairs and maintenance. We'll learn a little today about this interesting military vessel.

Lots of anchored ships today

Today we have an abundance of anchored ships on the river, so many that a couple are waiting offshore. We'll talk about how that can happen.

Who’s on the river today?

A look at today's ship traffic on the Columbia.

The Polar Star and Operation Deep Freeze

Each year the USCG heavy icebreaker Polar Star heads to Antarctica to spend the Northern Hemisphere winter opening a channel through the ice during the Antarctic summer. The ship has just completed her mission and is heading home to Seattle. We'll talk about why this...

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
“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.