Houston Port Restrictions Could Last All Week
The Houston Ship Channel could remain under one-way travel restrictions all week following a collision between a deep-draft ship and a barge that spilled petrochemicals into the waterway, according to an official.About 9,000 barrels of gasoline spilled into the channel near Bayport, Texas, when a 755-foot (230-m) tanker collided with a Kirby Inland Marine tugboat towing two barges containing the fuel. One barge ruptured and the other capsized.The U.S. Coast Guard limited travel to one-way traffic because barges blocked part of the channel.
Crashes in Crucial US Crude Waterway Hit 10-year Low
Serious crashes in the bustling Bay of Galveston have fallen to the lowest level in a decade even as more oil moves on U.S. waterways, official data show, suggesting that better training and equipment are helping avert spills like one in March. The number of crashes in the Texas bay, home to the Houston Ship Channel and the country's heaviest crude, fuel and chemical ship traffic, fell 68 percent to eight in 2013 from 25 in 2011, according to U.S. Coast Guard data obtained by Reuters through the Freedom of Information Act. But the March 22 crash of a Kirby Corp.
Oil Spill Closes Mississippi
The Mississippi River was shut to all vessels Tuesday night after the Westchester, a 13,000-barrel crude oil spill near the mouth of the river some 60 miles south of New Orleans, the U.S. Coast Guard said. A Bahamian-flagged crude oil tanker ran aground near the mouth of the river close to Venice, La., around 6 p.m. CST Tuesday, Nov. 28, and spilled about 13,000 barrels of Nigerian sweet crude oil, said Petty Officer Joe Patton. The river had been shut between mile markers 9 and 38 (a nearly 30-mile stretch), Patton said. The Coast Guard and other federal agencies are assessing the extent of the spill. Containment booms and about 30 vessels are involved in the clean-up, Patton said. Refineries were reportedly unaffected, as the cargo was destined for a pipeline terminal.
