Houston Ship Channel Has 64 Vessels Stalled, USCG Says

Sixty-four ships were idled at the Houston Ship Channel serving the largest U.S. petroleum port at about 6 p.m. local time today after fog limited visibility, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Houston port pilots suspended boardings at 12:30 a.m., Albert Hernandez, a Coast Guard watch supervisor said today in a telephone interview.

As of 6 p.m., 30 ships were waiting to enter the port and 34 were waiting to depart, Walter Aldridge, an assistant watch supervisor, said in a telephone interview.

Dense fog limiting visibility to 0.25 mile (0.4 kilometer) or less was expected to persist until 10 a.m. local time tomorrow, the National Weather Service said in a statement on its website.

“It never really cleared out,” Aldridge said. “It cleared out a little bit, but we’re expecting it to roll back in again this evening.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net; Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net; Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net