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!

More on tides in our daily lives

Today we'll talk more about how tides change all the time here, and affect us on both the river and ocean beaches. And how this information is practical to know as we go about our daily lives, even if we never go near the water.
More

A look at why lines (and shrouds) on ships and boats can “part” and why it’s so dangerous

Today, we take a look at the strain vessels are under in the work they do. And how weather can push things to the breaking point, causing lines and wires to "part" or break, with sometimes catastrophic results. Photo: Courtesy Sara's Old Photos. The tanker Keystone...
More

The Rule of 12ths: a way to gauge tidal dangers on the Columbia

Today we'll talk about a useful guideline for navigating in heavily tidal waters like the Columbia. It's called the Rule of 12ths. The Rule of 12ths divides the tidal cycle into segments, and shows when the most active times are happening. It offers a useful pattern...
More

Today’s ship schedule and a look at tides in the river

Today we'll look at today's abundant ship schedule, and also take a look at this week's tides, which feature pretty big tidal swings between high and low tide. This can be an issue for people on the river in boats, as many people are during this month's Buoy 10 salmon...
More

The busy inland Columbia River

While ship traffic may seem slow some days on the lower river near the Columbia's mouth, there's plenty happening upriver near busy ports, and inland as far as Idaho. We'll talk about upriver traffic on this busy marine highway, which includes the Snake River and...
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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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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More on tides in our daily lives

Today we'll talk more about how tides change all the time here, and affect us on both the river and ocean beaches. And how this information is practical to know as we go about our daily lives, even if we never go near the water.
Listen

A look at why lines (and shrouds) on ships and boats can “part” and why it’s so dangerous

Today, we take a look at the strain vessels are under in the work they do. And how weather can push things to the breaking point, causing lines and wires to "part" or break, with sometimes catastrophic results. Photo: Courtesy Sara's Old Photos. The tanker Keystone...
Listen

The Rule of 12ths: a way to gauge tidal dangers on the Columbia

Today we'll talk about a useful guideline for navigating in heavily tidal waters like the Columbia. It's called the Rule of 12ths. The Rule of 12ths divides the tidal cycle into segments, and shows when the most active times are happening. It offers a useful pattern...
Listen

Today’s ship schedule and a look at tides in the river

Today we'll look at today's abundant ship schedule, and also take a look at this week's tides, which feature pretty big tidal swings between high and low tide. This can be an issue for people on the river in boats, as many people are during this month's Buoy 10 salmon...
Listen

The busy inland Columbia River

While ship traffic may seem slow some days on the lower river near the Columbia's mouth, there's plenty happening upriver near busy ports, and inland as far as Idaho. We'll talk about upriver traffic on this busy marine highway, which includes the Snake River and...
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.