Dense Fog Halts Shipping Across Houston Area

showing dense fog over Texas coast and into Louisiana. 

HOUSTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Dense fog halted vessel traffic along the Houston Ship Channel, idling at least 50 vessels in or near the 53-mile (85-km) waterway that leads to the busiest U.S. petrochemical port, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Thirty-seven ships on Tuesday were waiting to enter the channel and 13 waiting to exit from the port of Houston, one of the nation’s most active ports, according to the Coast Guard.

Three crude tankers are waiting to arrive at the port, according to Matthew Brock, lead dispatcher for Houston Pilots.

Meanwhile, six ships are awaiting for inbound and three are awaiting to depart at the Galveston/Texas City port.

Dense fog is impacting marine traffic as well. Check out this map from @MarineTraffic showing all the vessels stalled offshore waiting for the fog to lift.@JeffEhlingABC13 is live from the Houston Ship Channel.

Stream –> https://t.co/pAd8BkkGvb pic.twitter.com/0Jk8mMYoiw

— Travis Herzog (@TravisABC13) December 19, 2017

Ship pilots halted vessels going to and from the port of Houston at 1408 CST yesterday due to poor visibility.

Dense sea fog is a routine feature of late winter and early spring weather along the Gulf Coast. (Reporting by Bryan Sims; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017.

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