Houston Ship Channel reopens to waterborne traffic

20-Dec-11

The Houston Ship Channel reopened to waterborne traffic late Thursday, but loading activities remained suspended due to fog, as per Dow Jones. The channel, the busiest U.S. petrochemical port and a major conduit for cargo entering and leaving the Gulf of Mexico, has been intermittently opening and closing since Tuesday, when a collision between two vessels caused a partial closure. Heavy fog has also led to activities being suspended along the waterway. Last week, a tanker and a cargo vessel collided at about 8 a.m. CST near the Texas City Dike, which is in the lower end of the channel between Galveston and Texas City. This did not result in any oil or chemicals spill. Refineries along the ship channel are Lyondell Basell's 268,000 bpd refinery, Pasadena Refining's 100,000 bpd refinery, Valero Energy Corp's 83,000 bpd refinery and Royal Dutch Shell's 327,000 bpd JV refinery. The refineries in Texas City supplied by the ship channel are BP Plc.'s 437,080 bpd refinery, Valero's 214,000 bpd refinery and Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s 76,000 bpd refinery.