Houston Ship Channel reopens to vessel traffic after tanker collision
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Houston Ship Channel was reopened with restrictions to shipping on Sunday as officials worked to recover thousands of gallons of gasoline spilled into the waterway following a collision between a tanker and two barges.
About 9,000 gallons of gasoline spilled into the Houston Ship Channel near Bayport, Texas, after the Genesis River, a 755-foot (230-m) liquefied natural gas tanker, collided on Friday with a Kirby Inland Marine tug boat.
The tug was towing two barges each containing about 25,000 gallons of gasoline, one of which ruptured and the other capsized.
Salvage crews on Sunday began removing gasoline from the damaged barge, said Greg Beuerman, a spokesman for Bayport Channel Collision Response, a group of federal, state and local officials organized to deal with the spill.
It could take until midday on Tuesday to empty both barges and tow them from the scene. Once the first barge is emptied, officials plan to cut through the hull of the capsized vessel to remove its gasoline and allow it to be moved, he said.
No injuries were reported from the incident. The LNG tanker suffered no major damage.
The ship channel was reopened to traffic on Sunday with only one vessel at a time allowed to transit, and each requiring an escort, said Beuerman. There were 48 vessels lined up to enter the channel and 32 vessels waiting to leave late on Sunday afternoon, he said.
It was the second petrochemical spill in two months to affect traffic on the 53-mile (85-km) commercial waterway that connects Houston to the Gulf of Mexico. Nine U.S. oil refineries that process 12% of the national total operate along the ship channel.
Emergency crews placed about 20,500 feet of floating boom lines to contain the spread of the gasoline and aid in its recovery. The collision had halted all traffic between lights 61 and 75 on Friday, before some of the restrictions were lifted.
Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien and Daniel Wallis
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