"A Venezuela-bound tanker spilled an unknown amount of gasoline additive MTBE into the Houston Ship Channel after a crash with another vessel, shutting down a portion of the waterway and one container terminal.

The Carla Maersk, a 45,000-deadweight ton tanker, was heading out of the ship channel and had set course for Amuay Bay in Venezuela at the time of the collision with the MV Conti Peridot, a 57,000-deadweight ton bulk carrier that was traveling into the channel, according to vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. A total of 28 ships are waiting to enter the area and 21 are waiting to leave, Andy Kendrick, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman, said Tuesday by phone from Houston.

A roughly one-mile (1.6-kilometer) stretch of the channel north of Galveston Bay was closed during the cleanup and response, according to Lt. Brian Sadler, a watch supervisor with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service."

Harry Weber and Angelina Rascouet report for Bloomberg March 9, 2015. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Coast Guard Reports Spill in Houston Ship Channel" (Wall St. Journal) [3]