The bulbous bow – funny looking but functional

On all the cargo ships we see on the Columbia is an odd looking design feature that’s quite important. It’s the bulbous bow, an odd looking protuberance off the very front of the ship just below the waterline. It may look strange, but it helps ships save fuel by reducing drag.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

When is big too big? Another look at large ships

With the announcement of the newest “largest containership in the world,” we take another look at huge ships and what their limits may be, in terms of access to ports and their human crews being able to control them when they are underway. And, a look at the biggest ship in the world ever, so far, in terms of deadweight tonnage: the crude oil tanker Knock Nevis.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

How big is big? A look at containerships

Today we’ll take a look at that big, really big, containership that came into the Columbia on Friday. The MSC Shay – she is now officially the largest containership to transit the river.

But what does that mean, and how big is she compared to the biggest ships in the world? We’ll take a look today at how size is assessed in big ships like this.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Cold Ironing: an odd nautical term explained

Today we’ll talk about cold ironing. It’s an odd nautical term for something some ports offer to visisting ships: the ability to shut off their engines and plug into shore power at the dock.

Saves fuel, cuts pollution, while allowing life to proceed normally on board for the crew who call the ship their workplace and home away from home.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

The interesting phenomenon of the “dead wake”

If you have occasion to see a vessel go by on the river, if you look carefully you can sometimes see its “dead wake,” a trail of glassy, disrupted water that can remain long after the boat or ship has passed by. It’s not the active bubbly wake immediately behind the vessel, but a calm signature in the water, like a visible trail that shows where it’s been.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Observing the River

I had occasion to stop and observe the Columbia River closely this weekend. What I noticed tells a lot about this powerful river and what we need to know about it. This knowledge is  accessible to anyone who takes a moment to stop and look.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Thermal troughs are influencing our weather, but what are they?

Today we talk about a weather term that’s bandied about but I bet hardly anyone knows what it means: thermal trough. It’s influencing our weather this weekend. It has to do with heat and wind, and the natural inclination of our world to seek balance in all things.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Cruise ship hits an iceberg off southeast Alaska

A cruise ship that has visited Astoria before was cruising the waters off Hubbard Glacier in the southeast area of Alaska waters, an area common for cruises, and hit an iceberg.

It’s an odd story, but maybe no longer quite so odd. Experts have warned us for years now that melting northern ice will mean more free floating ice chunks and more potential danger for ships.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

The Pacific Tracker heads downriver today

The Pacific Tracker is a US Department of Defense missile tracking ship, homeported in Portland at the shipyard at Swan Island. She carries big rafar arrayson deck, hidden under covers that look like giant golf balls. So it’s hard to miss her as she goes by.

Photo courtesy marinetraffic.com. Photographer: Mike Cullom, Puget Island in the Columbia River. 2021-06-09 12:16

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More