2 Barges Collide With Tanker In Houston Ship Channel

HOUSTON, TX — A towing vessel pushing two barges collided with a tanker at the Houston Ship Channel on Friday amid heavy rainfall, causing a liquid used in gasoline production to leak into the waterway, officials said.

The crash happened at around 3:30 p.m. in a week marked by heavy, flood-causing rains. Port of Houston spokeswoman Lisa Ashley told Patch one of the barges capsized while the other sustained heavy damage. Ashley told Patch port officials first received reports on the crash at around 3:50 p.m., some 20 minutes after impact.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the incident occurred after the 755-foot tanker Genesis River collided with a tug boat pushing two barges, as reported in the Houston Chronicle. No injuries were reported.

The collision caused the damaged barge to spill reformate, an ingredient in the making of fuels, into the channel south of Bayport, Texas, Ashley confirmed. Both vessels were carrying some 25,000 barrels of reformate each, according to the spokeswoman.

The product of a hydrocarbon reforming process, reformate is an intermediate in the production of fuels such as gasoline. As a result of its spilling, officials at the nearby town of Seabrook, Texas, said they have received numerous reports from residents of a strong odor of petroleum wafting in the air.

Officials at nearby League City, Texas, also received reports of the smell. Despite the strong odor, city officials have advised residents they did not have to take immediate safety measures. League City and Galveston County officials are monitoring air quality in the spill's aftermath, according to a municipal tweet.

Following those reports, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality arrived at the site to monitor air quality. Residents are not advised to take action at this time, regulators said. However, residents with health concerns can call the Texas Poison Control Network at 1-800-222-1222.

"High levels of benzene and other Volatile Organic Compounds were monitored in the area soon after a collision involving barges in the Houston Ship Channel on May 10," the TCEQ said. "Monitored levels in the area since then are lower, but still elevated."

While the resulting odor in the atmosphere poses no long-term health risks, regulators outlined potential symptoms to this in proximity the the ship channel: "While not a long-term health concern, short-term exposures to these elevated levels can cause headache, nausea, and eye irritation. People who smell the gasoline-like odors may want to avoid the area out of an abundance of caution if they experience these transient effects."

The federally owned Houston Ship Channel is located 52 miles inland of Galveston Bay. The portion of the channel where the crash occurred reportedly has been closed to further traffic in accommodating an investigation.

Apart from the property damage to the vessels and potential cleanup costs incurred, the incident is expected to be costly as a result of the subsequent standstill in ship channel operations. The resulting forced closure of the ship channel is the first unplanned shutdown since March, when a massive chemical storage tank fire at Intercontinental Terminals, Co. in Deer Park spilled petroleum products into nearby waterways, the Houston Chronicle reported. That previous three-day closure cost the energy industry roughly $1 billion, according to the report.

One of the nation's busiest seaports, the Houston Ship Channel is a key conduit to the Gulf of Mexico toward foreign markets.

Correction: A previous version of this article said that Port of Houston officials first received reports of a collision around 4:50 p.m. The article has been corrected to say 3:50 p.m. Patch regrets the error.