Houston Ship Canal Partially Reopens

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday March 25, 2014

The Houston Ship Canal has been partially reopened following Saturday's closure due to a bunker spill, the Associated Press reports.

As of Tuesday morning about 100 ships were said to be waiting to move through the channel, and officials expect it to take some three days for traffic to get back to normal.

"The cleanup operations progress is to the point that there is minimal danger of contamination to the commercial maritime traffic and allowing limited transit during daylight hours," said Coast Guard Capt. Brian Penoyer.

"This is an important accomplishment for every person working this response."

The decision to slowly reopen the channel was made after a a test run involving a Carnival cruise ship and a boat belonging to the Houston Pilots association.

The spill of approximately 168,000 gallons of product occurred on Saturday after bulk carrier Summer Wind collided with a bunker barge containing 924,000 gallons of fuel oil that was under tow by the m/v Miss Susan.