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How a 2020 change in ship fuel worldwide is reducing air pollution
Oct 20, 2022It happened pretty quietly, with not much press, but on Jan. 1, 2020, ships worldwide started using a much less polluting type of fuel, thanks to a new rule from the IMO, a UN agency that controls ship emissions, among other duties.
After almost two years,scientists are now seeing dramatic reductions in worldwide sulphur oxide emissions from merchant ships.
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A Puget Sound ship slowdown could help orcas
Oct 19, 2022Today, a story about a new program in Puget Sound designed to help resident Orcas. Marine pilots will be asking ships to voluntarily slow down to cut underwater noise levels. Ship noise has been shown in studies to seriously interfere with Orcas’ ability to communicate and hunt. Experts hope the program will help the dwindling population of orcas start to thrive again.
Image of orcas is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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What a ship accident in Ecuador tells us about the Columbia River
Oct 18, 2022A 2021 accident in Ecuador that left a tall ship temporarily pinned against a bridge and a tug capsized as it tried to help, shows us the dangers of severe river current in an emergency. And how it could happen here.
Link to video of Ecuador ship accident: https://youtu.be/05bH8_8XfNA
Image: the Brazilian Navy training ship, the Cisno Bronco. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
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A listener question about ship fog signals
Oct 17, 2022A listener sent in a really interesting question about ship fog signals off the Astoria waterfront. A good opportunity to talk about how ships communicate, why such signal are needed, whether they’re in danger of becoming obsolete in this moden age, and what the options are for people who don’t like the noise of foghorns on the waterfront.
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A cool ship doing a special and vital job on the river
Oct 14, 2022Yesterday I saw a very cool and high tech ship doing her job on the river – The USACE dredge Essayons. We’ll talk about what she does and why she’s so vital to river commerce.
Photo: The Essayons off the Astoria waterfont, doing her job, 10/13/22. Credit: Joanne Rideout.
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What does a ship captain do?
Oct 13, 2022Today we’ll take a look at the job duties of a cruise ship captain, based on an actual job opening for a ship that will likely be on the Columbia River. Turns out captains are part manager, part first responder and part mentor. And that doesn’t even begin to describe the duties of handling the ship. It’s a big job.
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Norwegian Sun: our cruise ship in town today
Oct 12, 2022Today, a look at today’s cruise ship, the Norwegian Sun, on the river and in Astoria for the day.
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Lots of ships on the river today: let’s take a look
Oct 11, 2022A look at who’s coming and going on the river today.
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The Golden Globe solo round-the-world race: a test that demands strength, resilence and solitude
Oct 10, 2022Today we take a look at an unusual sailboat race: the Golden Globe 2022, happening right now. Race rules say participants may only use low tech means to sail their boats, navigate and communicate, similar to what was available in 1968, when the first Golden Globe was held.
They’ll be at sea for about 250 days and cover 30,000 miles – each sailing alone through some of the toughest waters in the world, in small boats, 32-36 feet long.
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