Cargo is loaded onto ships very deliberately and with a lot of calculation and forethought. Part of the reason is to anticipate how that cargo must be unloaded and in what order, at the dock.
But even more important, imbalanced cargo can lead to tragedy and loss at sea, and even right at the dock.
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I always like talking about this ship, because of her unique job and the role she plays in keeping people safe in a challenging part of the world.
The USCG icebreaker Polar Star is a ship specially designed to handle difficult conditions that would sink most vessels. She’s an older ship, but well maintained, and she just returned from a special annual mission in Antarctica.
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Today we talk about the weather – always a fascinating topic in our coastal region. And some interesting details about today’s arriving ships.
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A few things today: a closer look at our cruise ship du jour in Astoria, a look at ships coming and going, and a reminder of how ships at anchor let us know what the tide is doing.
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The second cruise ship of the season comes to Astoria on Thursday, and it’s a good opportunity to talk more about these big ships, carrying many passengers, and what Astoria will see here as we move through the season.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: Abxbay, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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We have an unusual spring snow storm on the way in the Cascades starting today, and colder than usual weather for the coast too. We’ll talk about how conditions up north allowed this cold air to flow down to us, and create winter like conditions in the middle of April.
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