Collision closes Houston Channel

A huge response effort was underway Friday (May 10) afternoon when a tanker collided with a tank barge tow in the Houston Ship Channel spilling an estimated 9,000 bbl. of gasoline product and closing the waterway near Bayport, Texas, according to Coast Guard and state officials. The 755-foot Genesis River, a Panama flagged liquid propane gas tanker, collided with the 69-foot tug Voyager - operated by Kirby Inland Marine - as it pushed two 25,000-bbl. tank barges of reformate, a high-octane gasoline blend product. One barge capsized. The other barge was split open by the impact, spilling its cargo into the waterway. The capsized barge does not appear to have lost its cargo. The other barge had major damage. “The bow of the ship went through the port tank into the starboard tank” and both were open to the sea,” said James Guidry, Kirby’s executive VP of vessel operations, at a Saturday morning (May 11) press briefing at the San Jacinto College Maritime Campus. The current objective is to get the vessels secured, according to Capt. Kevin Oditt, commander of Coast Guard Sector Galveston. As the cleanup continues, the CG is consulting with port officials and pilots about when the channel can be safely reopened, he said. (Source: Work Boat 05/11/19)