AmericasOperations

Part of Houston Ship Channel closed after second collision in five days

Houston: The Houston Ship Channel was partially shut on Monday after a collision between two vessels, the second such incident in five days.

A chemical tanker, the Danish-flagged Carla Maersk (44,999 dwt, built 1999) and a Liberian bulk carrier Conti Peridot (57,001 dwt , built 2011) bumped in fog, causing a leak of flammable liquid methyl tertiary-butyl from the tanker.

The liquid, a gasoline additive, spilled from one of the Carla Maersk’s tanks that ruptured in the collision. The leak was fixed after 90 minutes and the tanker was moved to dry land.

A shelter-in-place alert was in effect for people in nearby Morgan’s Point while officials monitored air quality.

On Thursday a tanker and a container ship collided in a different part of the channel causing that section to be shut down for one hour but no spillage occurred.

The Houston Ship Channel is one of the world’s busiest waterways.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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