Coast Guard: no timeline for ‘tapered’ Houston ship lane reopening
By: Reuters | Mar 24 2014 at 03:51 PM | Ports & Terminals
The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said it expects a “tapered” resumption of vessel traffic in the Houston Ship Channel after an oil barge spill shut it for a third day but gave no timeline for the reopening.
“We will begin process of tapered - more like a tapered, not a floodgate - resumption of marine traffic,” Capt. Brian Penoyer, commander Coast Guard sector Houston-Galveston and captain of the Port of Houston, told reporters on Monday, with no hint of when.
The shutdown stopped oil deliveries to Houston-area refineries, or one-tenth of U.S. refining capacity, and forced the second-largest refinery in the country to curb production.
(Reporting By Kristen Hays; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)