Capsized barge in Texas port, may explode

Fox News Channel | November 6, 2003

[Tree of Liberty]

Just caught the tail end of the report. Apparently, there is a capsized barge in a Texas port (didn't get the port's name). According to the Coast Guard, there are chemicals on board that, if mixed, will detonate.

[shaggy eel]

Perhaps they shouldn't ship such chemicals together.

,,, if anything goes wrong, someone will have to answer why the cargo wasn't barged separately or better segregated.

[GalaxieFiveHundred]

A barge transporting 235,000 gallons of sulfuric acid in the Texas City harbor capsized Monday, and early Wednesday morning it flipped on its side.

So, it capsized Monday, which means it overturned, yet on Wednesday it flipped on it's side. Wouldn't that indicate that it started out really bad early in the week and then was just bad? Splitting hairs, but they don't do a great job of fully describing how this thing progressed/degraded throughout the week. Okay, jumpin' back in the shower now.

[Ramius]

I had to run down a couple of doors and talk to a chemist about this.

Dilution of a strong acid is an exothermic process. It makes heat. This is why you always add acid to water, not water to acid. Water leaking into the barge would generate a lot of heat. This and the reaction of the water and acid with the metal in the barge may get hot enough to split the water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. The bubble of gas is under increasing pressure all the time as the temperature rises.

It could end very badly.

[shaggy eel]

,,, so how will they contain this situation? Is foam the best application? I don't know the first thing about acids and related chemical reactions.

[concerned about politics]

Kenny wayne Sheppard?

[MEG33]

Thanks for the link..it's what I think of everytime I hear about Texas City.

[Dog Gone]

Local officials are now saying that if it explodes, it will only affect a radius of about 100 yards.

I don't know how they come up with that, but I hope that's right.

[MEG33]

Whew!

[Ready4Freddy]

No 'mix' of chemicals, it's all suulphuric acid, apparently.

"The Coast Guard said the safety zone extends through the commercial area around the barge and will not effect (sic) recreational sea vessels."

*sigh*

[76834]

I was just a little tiny kid when it happened, maybe 3 years old.
We lived in Galveston and I still remember everything shaking like an earthquake, smoke and fire everywhere and sirens going constantly. Scared look on my Mother's face.
Now am hitting 60 faster than I want to think about it but still have nightmares about Texas City.

[shaggy eel]

,,, thanx.

[spunkets]

"I'd like to know how one goes about capsizing a barge."

Public school graduates who passed the outcome based geometry class and basic physics class. IOWs if you put all the weight on one side the boat, truck, or bus ect, tips.

[spunkets]

"so how will they contain this situation?"

They'll have to stick a hose in and pump it back out.

[MEG33]

I was an older child than you and not close to the blasts,but recall the sadness and the trauma to Texans.Another family tale was my grandmother leaving Galveston just in time to miss the Great Galveston flood in 1900 ,averting death and insuring my mother's birth.

[Eva]

Who owns the cargo? The barge company is most likely not the owner of the cargo. The cargo owner is ultimately responsible. I am always suspicious when the responsible party is not named.

[Ready4Freddy]

The problem is when the acid mixes w/ another chemical, aka water.....

[cgk]

bflr

[76834]

Momma was especially worried about Daddy.
At that time he worked for the railroad and one of his main jobs was to switch out the yards in Texas City.
We didnt hear from him for a few days but it turned out that the extra board called him for a run to Temple.
I will never forget how they hugged each other when he was finally able to get back home.

[MEG33]

I can only imagine the joy!

[spunkets]

"The cargo owner is ultimately responsible."

Whoever owns and runs the transfer equipment and the barge's captain is. They loaded it all on one side and tipped it over. IOWs it's the transport company's fault, not the owner of the matl's.