More than 80 ships were waiting on March 24 to see if the Coast Guard would reopen part of the Houston Ship Channel that was the scene of an oil spill over the weekend.
The channel is one of the nation’s busiest seaports. Coast Guard Warrant Officer Kimberly Smith says the goal was to reopen part of it sometime on March 24. The closure has forced ships to wait to enter or leave the Galveston Bay.
Smith says officials are still trying to determine how much oil spilled on March 22, when a barge carrying about 900,000 gallons collided with a ship. Authorities initially said as much as a fifth of the barge’s cargo spilled.
The spill also suspended state-operated ferry service between Galveston and Port Bolivar affecting thousands of travelers.
Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Danny Perez said Monday that ferry service could be out several days at the request of the Coast Guard. Ferry service that usually operates 24 hours per day was suspended after Saturday afternoon’s oil spill.
Free ferries haul vehicles and pedestrians from State Highway 87 between Galveston and the Bolivar Peninsula. Perez says about 3,000 vehicles and 9,400 passengers use the ferries on a typical Monday.
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