Corpus Christi Inner Harbor News

An allision between a 480-foot cargo ship and barge occurred Thursday night in the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor. The U.S. Coast Guard and state and local partners are responding. The Coast Guard launched a Station Port Aransas 45-foot response boat and crew after receiving a call reporting the allision between the U.S.-flagged bulk carrier Ocean Freedom owned by Intermarine and a moored barge owned by Kirby Inland Marine at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. A man from the scene went to Christus Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Shoreline due to possible knee injury, the Coast guard said.

A tug pushing two barges drifted into two U.S. Coast Guard ships at the north side of the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor at 4 p.m. Wednesday. One of the barges struck both the Coast Guard Cutter Mallet, a 75-foot inland construction tender, and the Coast Guard Cutter Brant, an 87-foot patrol boat, both located at the Coast Guard harbor facility here. No one was injured and neither of the ships or barges are taking on water. Though the two damaged ships will need to be repaired, no Coast Guard mission will be affected. Personnel from Coast Guard Marine Safety Office Corpus Christi are investigating the cause of the accident.

The Coast Guard is responding to oil spills at the Valero docks and the Citgo facility located in the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor early this morning. Approximately 168,000 gallons of oil has spilled into the Corpus Christi Ship Channel just west of the Harbor Bridge. Captain of the Port, Capt. John Korn, U.S. Coast Guard, closed the channel and no vessel traffic is being allowed in the harbor. Responders from Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi are on scene overseeing the containment and clean-up of the oil-spills. The Coast Guard received a call from the motor tanker Matt Jacobs of a fire in a 125-foot diameter storm containment tank next to the ship. According to the report, lightning had struck the tank and ignited the waste oil it contained.