Closed Portion of Houston Ship Channel Opens

The three mile portion of the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel that was closed due to an oil spill Sept. 25 opened at 12:45 p.m. Sept. 28 to vessel traffic.

 The channel, which was closed between Old Manchester Dock Three and City Dock 27, is open to all daylight operations and limited night time barge operations.

The Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service is managing all vessel movement.

The Captain of the Port, Capt. Marcus Woodring, determined the oil is contained along the shoreline, making it safe to resume traffic flow through the affected area at a slow speed.

Responders will continue to work to recover the remaining oil in the area. The exact amount of oil recovered is unknown, but as of 2 p.m. 23,418 gallons of an oil and water mixture has been recovered.