Houston ship channel begins re-opening, 90 vessels waiting

HOUSTON (ICIS)–The Houston ship channel began re-opening on Thursday, three days after a vessel collision shut down the waterway.

A dispatcher for the Houston Pilots said the channel re-opened for outbound traffic at 10 a.m. The current backlog of ships totals 43 vessels waiting to depart and 47 waiting to enter the channel, according to the port coordination team.

Authorities closed the channel on Monday after the chemical tanker Carla Maersk collided with the Liberian bulk carrier Conti Peridot near Morgan’s Point on the shores of Galveston Bay, according to the Coast Guard.

The Carla Maersk, carrying 216,000 barrels of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), suffered significant damage and could not be moved until today. A rescue team moved the 600-foot vessel into the Barbours Cut channel out of the main waterway.

Air-monitoring around the vessel ship has showed no signs of vapors seeping from the ship. Crews continue to conduct air and water tests, which so far show no public health or environmental concerns.