The Ship Report

The Ship Report, Wednesday, July 29, 2026

We haven't looked at ship schedules lately, so let's see who's coming and going on the river today.

The Ship Report: Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Today we'll take a look at a ship that was recently in the Columbia River at the Portland shipyard: the USCGC Healy, a Coast Guard icebreaker. She ran into serious mechanical issues during sea trials in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, and was towed to Seattle for repairs.

The ship had just finished a shipyard repair period. Today we'll talk about what it how ships prepare for problems, and why a breakdown during a sea trial is the very best time for it to happen.

The Ship Report, Monday, July 27, 2026

Glad to be back from last week off, with the answer to a listener question, and a little about "how I spent my summer vacation" with a bit about my beloved boat.

The Ship Report, Thursday, July 23, 2026

This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 4.

The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.

The Ship Report, Wednesday, July 22, 2026

This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 3.

The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.

The Ship Report: Monday, July 21, 2026

This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 2.

The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.

The Ship Report, Monday, July 20, 2026

This week I'm taking a little much needed time off, so we'll be hearing a bit from the Ship Report archives, a really interesting interview i did with Columbia River Bar Pilot Captain Robert Johnson, sometime in the early 2000s, all about the often-seen bulk carrier, the most common type of ship we see on the Columbia. There's a great deal to know, and we talk about a lot of it. Enjoy! Today is Part 1.

The Ship Report will return with new content, ship schedules and marine weather, on Monday, July 27.

The Ship Report, Thursday, July 16, 2026

in our region's maritime history, the Columbia River Bar has long been known as the Graveyard of the Pacific, because of all the vessels lost there, at the mouth of the river.

Nowadays, even with all our high tech modern gear and resources, it's still considered one of the most dangerous river entrances in the world. Today we'll talk about some of the reasons why.

The Ship Report, July 15, 2026

The historic fireboat David Campbell found a permanent place in history yesterday, after being placed on land at Astoria's Columbia River Maritime Museum. A big crowd turned out to watch the proceedings, which involved lifting the 244,00 lb. boat off a barge and carefully placing her on land as an outdoor exhibit, soon to be open to the public.  The boat has a long. honored history of service in the Portland area.

Today we'll talk about her new role educating the public, and about fireboats and what they do.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons. The David Campbell in past years welcoming the Rose Festival Fleet to Portland, Oregon.

The Ship Report, Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Today we'll talk about economies of scale in the maritime industry, which means that the more you can ship at once in a single vessel, the more money you save in transportation costs. Sounds pretty dull, right?

Well, when you start looking at the numbers, it's really kind of mind boggling. The amount of cargo a single barge can carry compared to say, a train of freight cars, or a fleet of semis, is pretty incredible. We'll learn why they say barges are the cheapest mode of transport in the US. And when it comes to ships, the numbers go even higher.