Cleanup continuing in Houston Ship Channel after vessels collide and spill gas product

[thackney]

Cleanup continuing in Houston Ship Channel after vessels collide and spill gas product
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/11/us/houston-tanker-barge-collision/index.html
May 12, 2019



Ship and barge traffic is resuming in the Houston Ship Channel as cleanup efforts continue in the aftermath of a spill that sent thousands of barrels of gasoline blending product into the channel, officials said Sunday.

The spill came after a collision in the channel Friday between a 755-foot oil tanker and a tug pushing two barges. The impact capsized one barge, damaged the other and triggered the leak of gasoline blending stock that the barges were carrying, the US Coast Guard said.

The barges -- pushed by the towing vessel Voyager -- were loaded with the gasoline blending component reformate, which leaked into the water after the collision near Bayport, Texas, officials said.

About 9,000 barrels of reformate spilled into the channel, according to incident commander Jim Guidry, an executive with Kirby Inland Marine, owner and operator of the Voyager....

[thackney]

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-Ship-Channel-remains-closed-after-tanker-13837896.php

...Jim Guidry, executive vice president of Kirby Inland Marine, owner of the barges, said at a news conference Saturday morning the tanker’s hull punctured two of the smaller vessel’s four storage tanks.

“The bow of the ship went through the port tank into the starboard tank, so there was no way to secure the source of the leak,” Guidry said. “Those two tanks were open to the sea.”

Aerial footage showed a trianglular gash in one of the barges and a sheen floating on the water. The white bow of the Genesis River bore scrape marks. The capsized barge is intact and not believed to be leaking product, Kirby Corporation spokesman Greg Beuerman said. The tug, which had four crew aboard, was undamaged....