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Fleet Week Thursday: Tours begin on Rose Festival Ships in Portland

One final wrap up today on the Rose Festival Fleet which begins tours today in Portland. Ships are located on the seawall in Tom McCall Park, 10-4. Get there early because tours end promptly at 4 and if you are waiting on land at 4 you may not get in.  And I also wanted to share again that I learned some updated information yesterday from the Rose Festival Website that indicates that you need Real ID to board for a tour. Here’s what it says on the Fleet Week page: “When arriving for public...

Archive Podcasts:

A visitor asks about ships at anchor off Astoria

I got a question about ships at anchor off Astoria, one I’ve answered before… but it’s always good to revisit these very visible and wonderfully local examples of “how things work” on the river.

Today we’ll talk about tides and their effects on anchored ships, and what their appearance and position tell us about what is happening on the river.

Listener questions about marine pilots

Today, some questions about pilots from a new listener to the Ship Report. A great opportunity to talk about one of my favorite subjects.

Steve asked, “Are pilots onboard for the whole journey, say Astoria to Portland?  At anchorage, as well? Also, are there pilot “bases” in Kalama and Portland in addition to Astoria?” 

Today we’ll talk about these questions and more about the fascinating topic of marine pilots.

Ship gets tug escort on the river

Oct 07, 2024

The containership MSC Damla was supposed to head to Portland on Monday, but she had to remain at sea after she developed temporary steering issues as she was about to enter the river.

Experts on board fixed her steering issues, and the bar pilot got her safely back out to sea. Even though her steering’s fine now, she’ll have a tug escort on the river today.

Look for her passing Astoria around 7:30am on Tuesday, in Portland about about 1:30pm. Track her progress at marinetraffic or vesselfinder.com.

Photo of MSC Damla courtesy Wikimedia Commons.:This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. MSC Damla berthed at North Quay, in the inner harbour of the Port of Fremantle, Western Australia. Photographer: Bahnfrend

A look at the ship registries, or flags, of the ships on the river today

Oct 03, 2024

Every ship sails under a flag of registry of a country somewhere in the world. Some represent the country where the ship’s owners are based, others are flags of convenience that offer cheaper rates and more lax regulations. We’ll take a look at where today’s ships are registered.

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