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Port Aransas News

10 Apr 2023

Ailing Towboat Captain Medevaced in Texas

(Photo U.S. Coast Guard)

An ailing towboat captain was medevaced from a U.S. flagged vessel near Port Aransas, Texas, Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.The Coast Guard said its watchstanders at Sector Corpus Christi received a medevac request at 10:49 p.m. Saturday from the Corpus Christi Harbor Master's Office stating the 59-year-old captain of the towing vessel Endurance was experiencing abdominal pain and nausea. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medevac.Watchstanders…

23 Jan 2023

Harbor Tug Grounds After Collision Near Corpus Christi

The tug boat Mark E. Kuebler rests aground on shoal water near Corpus Christi, Texas, Jan. 23, 2023. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

A harbor tug has run aground after colliding with an oil tanker near Corpus Christi, Texas.The U.S. Coast Guard said its watchstanders at the Sector Corpus Christi command center received a call at 4 p.m. Sunday from the agent of G&H Towing stating that the tug Mark E. Keubler had grounded outside the channel near the South Texas Gateway refinery and was taking on water.Before grounding, the tug was reportedly involved in a collision with the Saudi-registered oil tanker Nisalah.

27 Jun 2022

Boatbuilding: Pivoting to the Market Demand at Breaux Bay Craft for 65 Years

Photo courtesy Breaux’s Bay Craft/Cummins

In the 65 years, since Roy Breaux, Sr. founded Breaux’s Bay Craft and on down through three generations, the yard has built over 1700 hulls. Through the regular expansion and contraction of the oil industry, they learned to pivot from market demand to market demand.As the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico moved farther offshore, the demand for larger and faster crew boats, was met by Breaux. The fine-hulled aluminum crew boats grew to 125-foot vessels powered by up to five 700 hp Cummins KTA19 engines…

28 Feb 2022

Bulk Carrier Crewmember Medevaced off Texas Coast

An ailing mariner was medevaced from a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier anchored off Corpus Christi, Texas, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a medevac request at 1:03 p.m. Friday from the agent of the 260.4-meter Richard Oldendorff off Port Aransas, Texas, stating a crewmember was suffering from a possible leg infection. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medevac.The Coast Guard Cutter Pelican and a Coast Guard Station Port Aransas 45-foot Response Boat–Medium crew diverted to assist.The Pelican crew took aboard the crewmember and transferred him to the RB–M once it arrived on scene.

13 Sep 2021

Energy Firms Face Another Storm in US Gulf

(Image: NOAA)

Royal Dutch Shell on Monday began evacuating staff from a U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil platform, and other energy companies began preparing for hurricane-force winds from a second Gulf Coast storm in as many weeks.Tropical Storm Nicholas was about 105 miles (115 km) south of Port O'Connor, Texas, and moving north with winds of 60 miles per hour (97 kph). It could become a hurricane just ahead of landfall on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.Waves stirred up by Nicholas neared 12 feet (3.7 m) in height were reported outside of Port Aransas…

13 Sep 2021

Another Storm Barrels Toward US Gulf Coast

(Image: NOAA)

The Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana was bracing on Monday for the arrival of Tropical Storm Nicholas, which was expected to batter the region with life-threatening storm surge, flash flooding and gusty winds.The storm, carrying winds of 60 mph (97 kph), was moving erratically as it headed northward about 140 miles (225 km) south of the southern coast of Texas, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a Monday morning bulletin. It was forecast to move ashore along the southern or central coast of Texas late on Monday afternoon or evening.The National Weather Service issued storm surge…

05 Apr 2021

Bouchard Pays $375,000 to Whistleblower

A Corpus Christi Fire Department vessel extinguishes a fire on board Buster Bouchard/B. No. 255 approximately three miles from the Port Aransas, Texas, jetties on October 20, 2017. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc. and three former and current management officials from the Long Island-based petroleum barge company have paid $375,000 in restitution to the brother of one of two seamen killed in a 2017 barge explosion off Port Aransas, Texas.The seaman alleged the company fired him for cooperating with investigators and reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard following the deadly blast on board Buster Bouchard/B. No. 255. The National Transportation…

24 Feb 2021

Tanker Crewmember Medevaced Off Texas

(File photo: Patrick D. Kelley / U.S. Coast Guard)

An ailing crewmember was medevaced from a tanker offshore Port Aransas, Texas, Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center received a medevac request at 9:40 a.m. via cell phone from the crew of the Fortunato, a 375-foot liquefied petroleum gas carrier, stating a 41-year-old crewmember was suffering from facial swelling.A Station Port Aransas 45-foot Response Boat – Medium boat crew launched to conduct the medevac.The RB–M boat crew arrived on scene with the Panama-flagged tanker vessel…

10 Feb 2021

Tanker Crewmember Medevaced off Corpus Christi

An ailing mariner was medevaced from an oil tanker 9 miles off Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received a medevac request at 2:14 p.m. via cell phone from the crew of the 899-foot, Bahamas-flagged Karvounis stating a crewmember on board was displaying symptoms of a possible stroke.A Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and a Station Port Aransas 45-foot Response Boat – Medium (RB-M) boat crew launched to assist. A Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi HC-144A Ocean Sentry aircrew also launched to provide overflight and relay communications.The RB–M boat crew arrived on scene…

21 Aug 2020

Four Missing, Six Injured After Dredge Strikes a Pipeline in Corpus Christi

Four people are missing and six have been hospitalized for injuries caused by a pipeline explosion in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel on Friday, officials said.The explosion and subsequent fire were reported at about 8 a.m. local time near Nueces Bay in the northern part of the city after a dredge struck a pipeline in the water. The dredge, Waymon L Boyd owned by Houston-based Orion Marine Group, was working on a private project, not the channel deepening work currently underway at the port.The U.S.

07 May 2020

Injured Tanker Crewman Medevaced Off Texas

(Credit: U.S. Coast Guard)

The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced an injured crewmember from a Greece-flagged oil tanker approximately 39 miles offshore Port Aransas, Texas, Wednesday afternoon.Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi watchstanders received a request for medevac from the captain of the 274-meter Cap Guillaume for a crewmember who suffered an arm injury. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon who recommended the medevac.A Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew was launched to the scene and hoisted the injured crewmember from the vessel.

29 Mar 2019

Port of Corpus Christi Readies VLCC Terminal

The fourth-largest port in the United States in total tonnage, Port of Corpus Christi has leased land where it hopes to build the nation's first export terminal to load very large crude carriers (VLCC).The Port of Corpus Christi Commission approved today a long-term (50-year) lease agreement with Lone Star Ports, a joint venture between the Carlyle Group and the Berry Group, for approximately 200 acres on Harbor Island to develop a state-of-the-art petroleum export terminal.Featuring the latest in safety, security and environmental technologies, the facility will connect U.S. crude producers with all major international markets.The lease…

10 Jan 2019

US Oil Export Boom Sparks Battle to Build Texas Ports

© Robert Coy / Adobe Stock

Booming U.S. oil exports have set off a scramble to build Gulf Coast ports to handle more than 3 million barrels per day in new supplies expected over the next five years.Of seven proposed oil-export projects, nowhere is the opportunity greater or the competition more fierce than in Corpus Christi, Texas, where three firms are vying to open the state's first deepwater port.Commodities trader Trafigura has taken an early lead with a planned offshore facility that has an easier…

13 Nov 2017

Insights: Todd Schauer, President, American Salvage Association

Todd Schauer, President, American Salvage Association

Todd Schauer is Director of Operations at Resolve Marine Group, as well as President of the American Salvage Association. After graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a degree in Naval Architecture in 1991, he followed that up with graduate degrees in Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. And, while his considerable U.S. Coast Guard experience includes shipboard engineering, marine safety, advanced engineering and emergency response, he is best known for his longtime role in the commercial salvage business.

23 Oct 2017

Response to Barge Casualty continues Offshore Texas

The Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, and Bouchard Transportation representatives continue to respond Sunday to an oil discharge from a barge that caught fire and was extinguished on Friday three miles off the jetties of Port Aransas, Texas. Response efforts continue to minimize impact to the environment and the maritime community, which has enabled the Coast Guard to reopen the impacted ship channels. Discharge from the barge cargo tanks appears to have stopped following the removal of 2,500 barrels of oil-water mix from the barge through lightering operations. Lightering is currently suspended due to weather, but will resume with improvement in sea conditions. Containment boom remains in place around the vessel, though sheening from the barge and containment boom is present.

20 Oct 2017

Update: Texas Barge Explosion Kills One, Fire Extinguished

The U.S. Coast Guard responds to barge on fire approximately three miles from Port Aransas, Texas. (U.S. Coast Guard phot)

At least one person was killed and another was missing on Friday after an oil barge being pulled by a tug boat caught fire and exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off Texas, officials said. The barge was carrying some 133,000 barrels of crude oil to a refinery in Corpus Christi when the explosion occurred at 4:30 a.m., they said. The dead person had not yet been identified and the fire was allowed to burn itself out before being extinguished, said Rick Adams, Emergency Management Coordinator for the City of Port Aransas.

27 Dec 2016

Missing man's Body located in Corpus Christi Bay, Texas

A Coast Guard aircrew found the body of a 61-year-old fisherman Monday, after he was reported missing off Mustang Island earlier in the morning. The Corpus Christi Police Department notified Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi watchstanders at 7:35 a.m. The police reported that the man's wife was waiting in the car when he went wade fishing Sunday at about 11 p.m. They reported that she attempted to contact him when he didn't return and she fell asleep waiting for him, calling the police when she awoke. A Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew was immediately launched and joined a Corpus Christi Police Department boat, two Nueces County Fire Department boats and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department shore search.

30 Oct 2015

Cargo Ship Collides with Barge in Corpus Christi Harbor

The Ocean Freedom, a 480-foot cargo ship, is connected to a moored Kirby Inland Marine barge after a collision in the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor Thursday. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Gordon Bellinger)

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.

07 Jul 2014

Tankship Man Overboard Search in GofM

Coast Guard crews and the tankship Elia are searching for one of the vessel's crew members off Port Aransas, Texas. The USCG informs that missing is the chief engineer, a 47-year-old Russian man. After searching throughout the ship, the crew of the 800-foot Liberian flagged tanker called the Coast Guard for help on Sunday. They reported that the chief engineer had been seen around 10:10 a.m., but did not show up after being requested at 10:30 a.m. They were about 20 miles offshore, en route to the Port Aransas anchorage. Coast Guard Sector Houston/Galveston watchstanders responded to the call and Sector Corpus Christi watchstanders began…

07 Aug 2014

Video: USCG Medevacs Tanker Captain

Image: USCG

A U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter crew medevaced the captain of a tanker approximately 50 miles offshore of Corpus Christi Wednesday morning. Watch the video here. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi command center were notified Tuesday at approximately 4:30 p.m. that the 50-year-old captain of the Weser, a 422-foot oil and chemical tanker vessel was experiencing severe pain in his leg with a possible blood clot. A Coast Guard flight surgeon concurred with the need for medevac.

29 Jun 2015

Missing Divers Found in Gulf of Mexico

A Coast Guard Air Station Corpus Christi MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew stands with two rescued divers after they were located and rescued Saturday, June 27. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

U.S. Two overdue divers offshore from San Jose Island, Texas, were rescued by a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter crew Saturday afternoon. The two San Antonio men, Dennis Garrett and Robert Holms, were diving approximately 16 miles off the shoreline of San Jose Island at approximately 10 a.m. when they became noticeably overdue, leading the captain of the dive boat Reel Excursions to contact the USCG on marine band VHF-16 after growing concerns that they were 40 minutes overdue and could not be found.

06 Oct 2014

USCG, Good Samaritans Rescue 5 Near Aransas Pass

the Aransas Pass bridge Saturday. At approximately 6:30 p.m., the Aransas Pass Police Department notified Coast Guard watchstanders that there were people in the water in the vicinity of the Aransas Pass bridge. The watchstanders from Coast Guard Sector Corpus Christi launched a 25-foot response boat from Coast Guard Station Port Aransas, diverted an MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew already out on patrol, and issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast requesting mariners in the area to render assistance. The response boat arrived on scene at approximately 6:45 p.m. and recovered two people sitting atop an overturned pleasure craft. Three other people were previously picked up by good Samaritans and were later transferred to the Coast Guard response boat.

24 Sep 2015

Texas Orders Diesel-electric Ferry

Image: EBDG

Southwest Shipyard of Houston, partner of Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG), has been selected by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to build the third vessel in a new class of 28-car ferries for the city of Port Aransas. Two ferries of the new class were delivered in 2011, and construction of the latest vessel, which is a diesel-electric version, will begin this fall. EBDG will serve as the owner's representative. EBDG has provided support to TxDOT since 2008. Following…