As the weather calms down, ships wait

Today’s ship schedule, with most ship traffic in flux because of the weather, offers an interesting look at how vessels are affected upriver, in anchorages and offshore when weather prohibits ready transit across the Columbia River Bar.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Weird words for a weird storm: what’s a bomb cyclone?

A look at the unusual weather terminology that we have heard the past few days, as meterologists described an unprecedented mega storm hitting the Pacific Northwest.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

The Columbus Day Storm of 1962, remembered

It was one of those “storm of the century” events in the Pacific Northwest – a huge storm that caused incredible wreckage over a huge swath of the region. Storms since have not equalled its intensity and level of damage. Today we look back on the Columbus Day Storm that hit this area in October  of 1962.

Special thanks to local historian Frank Lehn, and the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco, Washington, for the information used in this podcast.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

The Great Shakeout, the Big One, and what you can do

Today is the annual Great Shakeout event, where we take a look at earthquake preparedness here on the coast, a place where we have the double whammy of earthquake damage and tsunami flooding. We’ll take a look at an article by infamous New Yorker magazine writer Kathryn Schulz (she wrote the scary and spot on article in 2015 about the Big One that shook us up big time). We’ll look at another more positive piece she also wrote, about simple things you can do to keep your home and yourself resilient in the event of a disaster like the Big One. And, what to do once you’ve done all that.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

A look at the deep blue sea and the Mariana Trench

Most of us land dwellers think of the ocean in terms of the shore, which is the interface between land and sea. But there is so much more to it than that – a vastness that we can hardly wrap our heads around, and which is still largely unexplored. Today we take a look at the ocean abyss and the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot in the oceans of the world. Seven miles deep…

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Abandoned ships: a look at how some ships and crews are abandoned by their owners

It’s a growing problem in a troubled world shipping market: some ships are being abandoned by their owners, with crews and cargo still on board, often at anchor in some foreign port far from the crews’ homes. Without pay, food or fuel, things become desperate for sailors who took jobs on board in good faith and with families to feed. Today we’ll look at abandoned ships.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

How issues with trains and trucks affect the supply chain

In the world today, we get our stuff through a global intermodal supply chain. That includes ports, containerships and on the ground, trucks and trains. As more disruptions arise at ports near and far, many of them concerning containerships, now delays in the trucking and train realms also have become an issue.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Power cutbacks in China threaten container ports

Today, an unusual story from China that could further hamper the flow of manufacturing and shipping there, with impacts on the rest of the world. China, in a effort to enforce emissions standards to reduce pollution, has started cutting electrical power to businesses that have not met their emissions criteria. Among the most affected areas are provinces where China’s busiest container ports are located.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Costco charters container ships to ensure inventory

Costco has joined the list of big box retailers who are chartering their own containerships to avoid intentory shortages during the holiday season. That’s good news for shoppers there. Small businesses that have to rely on the regular supply chain may have more difficulties getitng inventory. Overall, inflation and elevated shipping costs could cause prices to rise.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More

Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde purchase Willamette Falls

Some traditional native lands were returned to tribal jurisdiction this month, after the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde purchased the Willamette Falls. The change means good things for all: a coalition of organizations and regional tribes will demolish an abandoned paper mill on the site and restore the area, allowing public access to one of Oregon’s natural wonders, something not possible before.

Photo: Willamette Falls. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Podcast: Play in new window

Subscribe: Email | RSS | More