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 look at who’s on the river today, and the need for “rain pants” on the coast

A look at today's ship traffic, and what to expect from the weather. Might want to get out the raingear later in the week.
More

A few things: a new ship in town, a tsunami warning (whew!), and Ilwaco’s Crabpot Christmas

Today, a medley of things to talk about: a new, locally built military vessel on the Columbia; that scary tsunami warning yesterday and what it reminds us to consider. And, Ilwaco's Crabpot Christmas Tree lighting is coming around again, happening this Saturday at the...
More

A moment of inattention has big consequences at sea

Today we'll talk about an accident at sea where inattention and fatigue helped create a costly and catastrophic mistake, We'll talk about the cost of not paying attention on land and sea.
More

Remembering the Great Coastal Gale of 2007

Seventeen years ago this month, a series of storms later called the "Great Coastal Gale of 2007," hit PNW coastal communities hard, causing serious flooding inland too. Here on the coast, residents were reeling, left without power and cell service for days. We'll...
More

Tragedy in Alaska, as a fishing boat is lost

The Alaska commercial fishing community is grieving today with the loss of the 50-foot fishing boat, the Wind Walker, out of Sitka, which capsized in stormy seas a little after midnight early Monday morning southwest of Juneau. Despite an extensive search with many...
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

A look at who’s on the river today, and the need for “rain pants” on the coast

A look at today's ship traffic, and what to expect from the weather. Might want to get out the raingear later in the week.
Listen

A few things: a new ship in town, a tsunami warning (whew!), and Ilwaco’s Crabpot Christmas

Today, a medley of things to talk about: a new, locally built military vessel on the Columbia; that scary tsunami warning yesterday and what it reminds us to consider. And, Ilwaco's Crabpot Christmas Tree lighting is coming around again, happening this Saturday at the...
Listen

A moment of inattention has big consequences at sea

Today we'll talk about an accident at sea where inattention and fatigue helped create a costly and catastrophic mistake, We'll talk about the cost of not paying attention on land and sea.
Listen

Remembering the Great Coastal Gale of 2007

Seventeen years ago this month, a series of storms later called the "Great Coastal Gale of 2007," hit PNW coastal communities hard, causing serious flooding inland too. Here on the coast, residents were reeling, left without power and cell service for days. We'll...
Listen

Tragedy in Alaska, as a fishing boat is lost

The Alaska commercial fishing community is grieving today with the loss of the 50-foot fishing boat, the Wind Walker, out of Sitka, which capsized in stormy seas a little after midnight early Monday morning southwest of Juneau. Despite an extensive search with many...
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.