Bad weather at sea, an interview

Today we hear another archive interview, about what it’s like to maneuver a ship through bad weather at sea. We’ll hear from now retired Columbia River Bar Pilot Capt. Robert Johnson, about his experiences in god-awful weather in the open ocean.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Ballast water nightmare: the story of the Cougar Ace

In this archive interview about an unfortunate car ship, we look back at the case of the Cougar Ace, a car ship full of brand new Mazdas, that ran into ballast water troubles off the Aleutians in the summer of 2006. While the crew was safely evacuated, the ship remained bobbing on its side, in the relatively calm waters of the ocean, but eventually had to be towed to Portland and her cars scrapped.  A member of the salvage team died in a fall on her sloping decks. Her dilemma? A computer failure caused too much ballast water to be pumped into tanks on one side of the ship. The weight imbalance caused her to lean way over, and the crew could not right her.

Photo: Kevin Bell, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Rogue waves

A look back into the Ship Report archives at an interview from the early 2000s with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Deborah Dempsey and former ship radio officer Terry Wilson. They’re talking about rogue waves, those giant waves that can rise up out of nowhere in the ocean. They can be a real problem for ships and they’re not as rare as you mght think, or hope.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

COVID hits Alaska fish processor hard, and sidelines fishermen

A look at what’s happening with a COVID outbreak at Trident Seafoods in Alaska. An outbreak there has sidelined plant workers and also has many fishermen waiting anxiously on fishing boats that can’t go out because they have nowhere to bring their catch.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

COVID-19 outbreak affects Alaska seafood processor

Trident Seafood, a big Alaska seafood processor, is weathering a sizeable COVID-19 outbreak among staff. The temporary closure of their plants is leaving fishermen and boats sitting at the dock waiting for the opportunity to fish and make a living.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

AIS: what it is, and how it works

AIS, is an acronym for Automatic Identification Systems, the fancy name for the electronics and GPS technology that makes it possible for us to look on websites like marinetraffic.com and see where ships are in real time.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

When to use a liferaft?

Today we look at a case of an empty fishing vessel found floating with no crew and a liferaft missing, after a challenging storm. Such a tragedy of course leaves us wondering sadly, what happened to the crew? Did they abandon ship and die in their liferaft, while the boat made it through the storm safely? Knowing when to abandon ship can be a difficult decision.

But in many cases, the liferaft should be the absolute last resort, because often vessels survive challenging conditions, while liferafts are much more precarious and danA grey/blue watercolour study of an empty Carley liferaft floating on calm water. gerous. One rule of thumb: only get in the liferaft when the ship is sinking beneath you.

Note: Image is a grey/blue watercolour study of an empty Carley liferaft floating on calm water. Artist: William Wyllie.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Norwegian solar energy project in the ocean

A look at an innovative solar energy project being tested in the waters off Norway. This floating energy farm seeks to harvest solar energy in a place where there just isn’t that much sun – kind of like here in the PNW. Can the equipment stand the test of difficult weather and sea conditions in that part of the world? Lots of parallels to our waters… would something like that work here?

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Shipping company helps fund ocean cleanup efforts

Today we’ll talk about how the big shipping company Maersk is helping fund ocean trash cleanup efforts.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

The demise of the Millennium Bulk Terminals project

The Millennium Bulk Terminals project, a proposed coal export terminal in Longview, Wash., that’s been in the works since at least 2013, seems to be dead in the water.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More