Ships moving on Houston Channel -Coast Guard

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

19 Mar 2008

Ships resumed moving in both directions along the the Houston Ship Channel by late Monday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Dense sea fog reduced visibility to unsafe levels for five hours on the 53-mile (85 kilometer) waterway between the busiest U.S. petrochemical port and the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said.A 12-ship backlog had been reduced by 10:30 a.m. local time (1530 GMT) to normal traffic levels, said the Coast Guard's Houston Vessel Traffic Center.The Houston ship pilots association stopped steering ships along the channel at 4:55 a.m. local time (0955 GMT), the Coast Guard said.The Houston Ship Channel supplies crude oil to eight refineries in Houston and Texas City, Texas, which account for 13.5 percent of U.S. refining capacity.