A one-mile stretch of the Houston ship channel has re-opened after it was closed for 14 hours because of a fire and fuel spill.
The Houston Ship Channel has re-opened to all vessel traffic after an early-morning tanker fire and fuel spill caused it to shut down for 14 hours.
The Coast Guard says he is still unsure what ruptured the hull of an 810 foot tanker, the Aframax River, and resulted into a fire. There were no injuries, and he said he doesn’t see an increased risk for barges.
MarineTraffic.com indicates the ship arrived in Houston from St. Lucia over the weekend. It was supposed to leave the ship channel for travel to Mexico when the incident occurred. The same website reports 25 crew members were safely evacuated as firefighters put out the blaze.
Investigators have begun looking into the cause of the incident and will be working with the National Transportation Safety Board.