The Ship Report

Who's on the river today?

A bit about today's ships: berths, cargo, anchorages - among the reasons ships come here to the Columbia River.

A look at what we know about this year's Rose Festival Fleet, and also, a big cruise ship in Portland

Two things today: first, a look at preliminary info about this year's Rose Festival Fleet of visiting military ships due here in June on the river. And, why was there a big ocean-going cruise ship heading upriver recently? We'll talk about all of that, and a look at marine weather and ship traffic for today.

Self loading ships, a special breed

Today we have an unusual cargo ship on the river: a self loader called the CSL Tecumseh. She's bringing gypsum to Rainier.

What makes her unusual is she has all the gear she needs to load and unload her own cargo at the dock. We'll talk about why that's important.

A closer look at the Columbia's new ship anchorage, and a bit about anchoring on the river

Earlier this month, I made a passing reference to there being a new ship anchorage on the Columbia River near Skamakowa.

Today we'll look at that in more depth and talk about the complicated affair of anchoring a gigantic ship on a swift, powerful and capricious river.

Special Ship Report archive interview: all about car ships - Part 5

This week we'll be talking about those unusual looking ships we see on the river, the big blocky carships, called ROROs, for Roll-on/Roll-off. They bring us our cars, and they're complex vessels. We'll talk with a bar pilot about what they're like inside and what it takes to pilot one.

Special Ship Report archive interview: all about car ships - Part 4

This week we're talking about those unusual looking ships we see on the river, the big blocky carships, called ROROs, for Roll-on/Roll-off. They bring us our cars, and they're complex vessels. We'll talk with a bar pilot about what they're like inside and what it takes to pilot one.

Special Ship Report archive interview: all about car ships - Part 3

This week we're talking about those unusual looking ships we see on the river, the big blocky carships, called ROROs, for Roll-on/Roll-off. They bring us our cars and their complex vessels. We'll talk with a bar pilot about what they're like inside and what it takes to pilot one.

Special Ship Report archive interview: all about car ships - Part 2

This week we'll be talking about those unusual looking ships we see on the river, the big blocky carships, called ROROs, for Roll-on/Roll-off. They bring us our cars, and they're complex vessels. We'll talk with a bar pilot about what they're like inside and what it takes to pilot one.

Special Ship Report archive interview: all about car ships - Part 1

This week we'll be talking about those unusual looking ships we see on the river, the big blocky carships, called ROROs, for Roll-on/Roll-off. They bring us our cars, and they're complex vessels. We'll talk with a bar pilot about what they're like inside and what it takes to pilot one.

A new anchorage on the river, and some time away from the showToday we'll talk about a little bit of everything: a new anchorage on the river, today's ship traffic, and why I'll be taking a little time away from the show next week (you'll hear a great archive interview series) to tend to some medical needs.