Ships now moving inbound on Houston Ship Channel

Ships are moving inbound on Monday morning along the Houston Ship Channel after a Friday collision between a barge and deep-draft ship that spilled petrochemicals into the waterway closed ship traffic in both directions, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard did not have immediately available the number of vessels waiting to enter and exit the Channel on Monday morning. Ships started moving outbound on Sunday. Barges along the channel can move into both directions, the Coast Guard said.

One barge was severely damaged and another capsized following a collision with a 755-foot (230-m) tanker in the Ship Channel near Bayport, Texas, that spilled at least 9,000 barrels of gasoline into the waterway.

The damaged barge was removed by Sunday and salvage efforts on the capsized barge got underway. No injuries were reported from the collision. 

(Reuters, Reporting by Erwin Seba Editing by Bill Rigby)