One of the world’s key oil routes has been reopened for the first time since a weekend oil spill left dozens of vessels stuck – after causing around $1billion in delays.
The Houston Ship Channel, home to the nation’s largest petrochemical complex and export port, has been closed since a barge collided with another vessel and sank on Saturday.
Now the coastguard has given the goahead to limited ship movement into and out of the channel, which is used by more than a tenth of the USA’s petrochemical refiningi industry.
More than 50 ships are still waiting to enter the channel, with a further 36 looking to leave, a spokesman for the US Coast Guard said.
The spill of 4,000 barrels of bunker fuel, which is floating in the water and reaching the shorelines, has killed some birds and threatened other wildlife.
ExxonMobil said it was now receiving crude shipments at its 560,500-barrel-a-day refinery in Baytown, Texas, after having reduced rates following the channel’s closure.
The combined capacity of refineries dependent on the ship channel is 2.1 million barrels a day, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houston.
The accident happened after a barge towed by the vessel Miss Susan was struck by the 585-foot bulk carrier Summer Wind, causing one of the barge’s six tanks to leak fuel oil.
The fuel from the remaining five tanks has been removed and the vessel will be moved to a local shipyard. The estimated economic impact of closing the channel is $330 million a day, according to the port authority.