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!

The Vigorous drydock in Portland’s shipyard is an unusual maritime marvel

Today, an answer to a listener question about the Vigorous dry dock at the Swan Island shipyard in Portland. It's an engineering marvel, and the largest floating drydock in North America. We'll take a closer look.
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Who’s on the river today?

A bit about today's ships: berths, cargo, anchorages - among the reasons ships come here to the Columbia River
More

A look at what we know about this year’s Rose Festival Fleet, and also, a big cruise ship in Portland

Two things today: first, a look at preliminary info about this year's Rose Festival Fleet of visiting military ships due here in June on the river. And, why was there a big ocean-going cruise ship heading upriver recently? We'll talk about all of that, and a look at...
More

Self loading ships, a special breed

Today we have an unusual cargo ship on the river: a self loader called the CSL Tecumseh. She's bringing Gypsum to Rainier. What makes her unusual is she has all the gear she needs to load and unload her own cargo at the dock. We'll talk about why that's important....
More

A closer look at the Columbia’s new ship anchorage, and a bit about anchoring on the river

Earlier this month, I made a passing reference to there being a new ship anchorage on the Columbia River near Skamakowa. Today we'll look at that in more depth, and talk about the complicated affair of anchoring a gigantic ship on a swift, powerful and capricious...
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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Ship Report Podcasts

The Vigorous drydock in Portland’s shipyard is an unusual maritime marvel

Today, an answer to a listener question about the Vigorous dry dock at the Swan Island shipyard in Portland. It's an engineering marvel, and the largest floating drydock in North America. We'll take a closer look.
Listen

Who’s on the river today?

A bit about today's ships: berths, cargo, anchorages - among the reasons ships come here to the Columbia River
Listen

A look at what we know about this year’s Rose Festival Fleet, and also, a big cruise ship in Portland

Two things today: first, a look at preliminary info about this year's Rose Festival Fleet of visiting military ships due here in June on the river. And, why was there a big ocean-going cruise ship heading upriver recently? We'll talk about all of that, and a look at...
Listen

Self loading ships, a special breed

Today we have an unusual cargo ship on the river: a self loader called the CSL Tecumseh. She's bringing Gypsum to Rainier. What makes her unusual is she has all the gear she needs to load and unload her own cargo at the dock. We'll talk about why that's important....
Listen

A closer look at the Columbia’s new ship anchorage, and a bit about anchoring on the river

Earlier this month, I made a passing reference to there being a new ship anchorage on the Columbia River near Skamakowa. Today we'll look at that in more depth, and talk about the complicated affair of anchoring a gigantic ship on a swift, powerful and capricious...
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.