The Most Recent Ship Report Podcast:

Who’s on the river today and what cargoes are they carrying?

Today we'll look at today's ship schedule with a twist: a look at the cargoes these ships are handling here. What they are, where they come from and how they fit into the chain of commerce on the mighty Columbia River.

Archive Podcasts:

Mililtary Sealift Command proposes sidelining vessels

Aug 27, 2024

The Military Sealift Command, which has ships stationed on the Columbia, has proposed sidelining 17 of its ships to address a dwindling workforce of mariners.

The situation reflects a wider trend worldwide, especially since the pandemic, where sailors simply don’t want to be away from home for months, with often mediocre compensation, and not enough time off to create healthy work-life balance.

The workforce of mariners in the world is getting smaller as demands increase, and these are the folks who bring us our “90 percent of everything.”

Transcript here: http://shipreport.nfshost.com/audio/SRTranscript082724.pdf

Red Sea tanker attack highlights international risks

Aug 26, 2024

Right now, a crude oil tanker is ablaze in the Red Sea after an attack by Houthi forces. If the ship sinks, it could create a massive environmental disaster. The ripple effects from this incident show how what happens in one part of the world can affect people elsewhere, and how any ship presents a risk that marine professionals are careful to plan for.

Transcript here: http://shipreport.nfshost.com/audio/SRTranscript082624.pdf

Photo of the Red Sea: This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

An icebreaker joins the USCG Alaska fleet

Aug 20, 2024

The US Coast Guard has purchased the Aiviq, a commercial icebreaker previously used to support Arctic oil production operations. She’ll become a medium icebreaker for the USCG and will be berthed in Juneau. The Aiviq will be ready for Coast Guard service in about two years.

Transcript here:  http://shipreport.nfshost.com/audio/SRTranscript082024.pdf

Autumn is in the air, and with it, thoughts of the Beaufort Wind Scale

Aug 19, 2024

With some tempestuous weather happening the past few days, and that feeling in the air, we all know that fall is not far away even though it’s still summer. Seems like a good time to revisit the Beaufort Wind Scale, a reference table dating back to the 1700s that is still in use today. It allows mariners and land dwellers the opportunity to assess conditions around them and gauge the strength of the wind.

Show transcript here: http://shipreport.nfshost.com/audio/SRTranscript081924.pdf

Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership receives EPA grant for local projects

Aug 16, 2024

Today we’ll talk about a large grant that the EPA just awarded to a local environmental group, the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, funding the group’s work to enhance communities and address watershed needs in our region posed by issues like sea level rise and other challenges. The grant is part of a massive funding bill called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed into law last fall. 

It’s another example of behind the scenes work that often unsung organizations do routinely, to make our communities more resilient, and the public funding that makes such projects possible.

(Having some issues with posting transcripts… they’ll return here – in this space – as soon as I figure it out…)

A military vessel named Bob Hope with an interesting history

Aug 14, 2024

Today, an unusual vessel arrives on the Columbia: the Bob Hope, a military car carrier. We’ll talk about her interesting history and the military agencies that have used and continue to use her services. One of the many military ships we see often on the river.

This photo of the Bob Hope is used with permission and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

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