Offshore weather brings wind and rain

A pretty big storm is missing us here on land, while creating difficult conditions for ships at sea.

Baltimore's bridge disaster

The horrific scene in Baltimore harbor strikes fear into communities like ours, where we have a big river and big bridges with ships passing under them.

Today we'll talk about what's known so far about the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore harbor after it was hit by a huge containership.

We'll also talk about whether that could happen here on the Columbia.

Waves and storms

Farewell, Fisher Poet Clem Starck

Today we honor Oregon poet Clemens Starck, an award winning poet and author who was a regular performer at the annual Fisher Poet's Gathering in Astoria.

Clem passed away last week at the age of 86, but his evocative work lives on. Today we'll hear him reading of a poem he wrote from his days as a merchant mariner, and learn a little about his life

The USNS Mercy heads to Portland

Beautiful. mysterious river fog

The other morning in Astoria, people were treated to a lovely natural event: the river and surrounding areas were shrouded in thick, velvety fog.

Ships sounded their fog horns while they made their way through it, while the hillside above the river enjoyed bright sunshine and blue skies.

Today we'll talk about river fog and what causes it.

But wait, there's more! About dredging...

We'll talk about how deep the channels are, other channels on the Columbia besides the main ship channel, and why the Columbia will never be able to accommodate some ships that are just too big.

The present and future of ship emissions

Sharp-eyed ship watchers concerned about pollution noticed a ship traveling in the river yesterday, emitting what looked like smoke from its stack. As it turns out, seeing that was good news, since it shows the ship has an emissions scrubber on board, and what folks saw was mostly steam.

But that sighting opens the door to talk about recent international regulations that have reduced pollution in shipping, with plans for even more reductions by 2050.

Dredging on the Columbia, and a new beneficial use for dredge spoils

Today the answer to a listener question about dredging on the Columbia River, and a look at new beneficial use for dredge spoils: the many tons of sediment vacuumed off the river bottom annually.

The rhyme and reason of ship names

Today we'll talk about a ship in the Astoria Anchorage that's garnered some attention lately because of her name: the bulk carrier Kobayashi Maru is out there waiting to go upriver and pick up her cargo.

That's prompted shipwatchers locally to wonder whether she was named by a zealous Star Trek fan, or whether her name is simply a charming term of endearment in Japanese.

The whole thing offers a great excuse to talk about ship names, so that's what we'll do today.