Houston Ship Channel traffic clearing after spill

Most outbound vessels have cleared the Houston Ship Channel as of this morning, after one-way traffic resumed yesterday following a fuel spill which had closed the waterway.

Only two outbound vessels were waiting to pass the spill area as of 9:30am ET today, the US Coast Guard said. Meanwhile, 56 inbound vessels were still waiting.

Two-way tow traffic and one-way outbound ship traffic resumed yesterday after a collision between a tanker and a barge on 10 May led to the fuel spill.

The VLGC Genesis River collided with and punctured one of two barges being pushed by a tug boat, sending an estimated 9,000 bl of reformate into the channel. The second barge was overturned and remained near the channel, according to an update yesterday. Each barge carried 25,000 bl.

Clean up operations include the deployment of 20,550 ft of product containment and absorbent boom.

Salvage teams yesterday secured the barges near the channel and were beginning to remove the remaining fuel from the vessels.

The cause of the incident remains under investigation.