The bottleneck in Houston Ship Channel seems to be coming under control as four tankers on Thursday were preparing to offload or pick up cargoes in the busiest US oil port, according to AIS data. The bottleneck has reportedly cut 1 million barrels per day of shipments since Monday.
The Houston Ship Channel reopened this week with operating restrictions following a fire at Mitsui & Co Inc’s Intercontinental Terminals Co (ITC) in Deer Park, Texas.
That blaze sent fuel and chemicals into the waterway, which connects Houston to the Gulf of Mexico and is home to nine refineries.
Oil and fuel moving in and out of the port fell to 1.4 million barrels per day this week, from a 10-day moving average of 2.4 million bpd, Reuters reported citing figures by Kpler.
That decline is similar to a drop in February when fog closed the channel for three days, Kpler said.
The US Coast Guard is adding inspectors to check ships for contamination to speed up transit.
On Wednesday USCG said it is allowing daytime transits only through the ship channel.
A total of 15 vessels Wednesday moved through the upper channel, four more than on Tuesday, US Coast Guard Captain Kevin Oditt told Reuters.
On Thursday, 55 inbound and 19 outbound vessels were waiting to move through areas tainted by the fuels. In all, 141 ships were at anchor, but not all of those were waiting to move past ITC, Oditt said.
After a shutdown last week, traffic on the upper channel has been limited to daylight hours and other restrictions.
Ships that travel through the area must be inspected for oil and cleaned if any is found. It remains unclear when the channel could return to normal, Oditt said.
