Due to the recent spill of highly flammable chemicals on the Houston Ship Channel, US Coast Guard Officials have said that that spillage could take several days to resolve with the chemical outpouring covering around eight miles of the channel.
In ABC13 Eye Witness News, Captain Brian Penoyer, Commander of the Houston-Galveston Coast Guard District said: “We have to proceed step by step, making sure the flammability, the toxicity of this cargo is absolutely safe.”
PTI Tech Paper: Hazardous and noxious substances – a port management perspective
Penoyer added: “We need to recognise this is an enormously complex salvage operation. We are driven by factors on the ground, not by a desired time frame. We all live here. We want to get back to business as usual. But we have to make sure people are safe.”
There have been a number of shipping incidents, including the death of 13 fisherman after their boat collided with a containership along the Suez Canal and a container-ship collision that took place at a port in Sydney, Australia as a result of a storm.