Tanker collision sends thousands of gallons of gas product leaking into bay
A collision between a massive tanker and two oil barges has resulted in as much as tens of thousands of gallons of a gasoline product leaking into a shipping channel near Houston.
The U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the accident, which took place about 3:30 p.m. local time, in the Houston Ship Channel, near Bayport, Texas. A 755-foot tanker collided with a tug pushing two barges filled with 25,000 gallons of reformate each.
The hull of the tanker punctured two of the barges’ four storage tanks, Jim Guidry, executive Vice President of Kirby Corporation, which owns the barges, said at a Saturday morning press conference, the Houston Chronicle reported.
“The bow of the ship went through the port tank into the starboard tank, so there was no way to secure the source of the leak,” Guidry said, according to the newspaper “Those two tanks were open to the sea.”
Reformate is an intermediate stage in the production of gasoline and is colorless, flammable and toxic to marine life.
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