Neches River Reopened After Oil Spill

The Neches River was reopened to ship traffic, more than two days after an oil spill shut the waterway that links the southeast Texas ports of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange to the Gulf of Mexico.

The "Torm Mary," a Danish tanker, spilled about 25,200 gallons of fuel oil into the river about 1 a.m. Monday after a barge punched a hole in the ship's hull during refueling near Nederland, between Beaumont and Port Arthur. A tow boat had pushed the fuel barge into the hull of the ship, officials said.

No injuries were reported. Although crews from the barge quickly worked to contain the spill, cleanup workers later deployed containment booms blocking off about two miles of the river.
The blocked section of channel was reopened to one-way ship traffic, although vessels were kept slow speeds to minimize the impact of continuing cleaning operations.

"The opening of the Neches River to coordinated traffic is a major milestone in the cleanup and recovery process," said Captain Sharon Richey, commanding officer of Marine Safety Office at Port Arthur and Captain of the Port. "We conducted an overflight of the river ... and it showed us the bulk of the recoverable oil has been removed from the channel."

Upon reopening the river, seven outbound ships, six inbound ships and seventy barges were lined up, awaiting permission to pass.

More than 29,600 gallons of an oil-water mixture was recovered by cleaning crews. The recovered oil is being taken to a nearby holding tank for recycling.