Vessel traffic on the Houston Ship Channel, one of the world’s busiest commercial waterways, was halted on Tuesday because of dense fog in the Houston area, according to Reuters.
Inbound and outbound shipping was temporarily suspended as visibility became a serious concern. It left at least 50 vessels idling with 37 waiting to enter the channel and 13 waiting to enter the Port of Houston.
If the fog cleared overnight, a US Coast Guard (USCG) spokesman said, it would take about another day for the backlog to clear.
The 52-mile long Channel links the Port of Houston’s numerous terminals – many of them petrochemical facilities – to the Gulf of Mexico through Galveston Bay.
