Posted on 09/17/2008 11:58:14 AM PDT by thackney
More than 100 vessels are waiting to enter the Houston Ship Channel to deliver goods but can't, in part because Hurricane Ike destroyed or moved maritime navigational aids.
Also, public terminals operated by the Port of Houston Authority remain closed because of cleanup efforts and no electricity.
"A range of serious complications due to the lack of electricity prohibits the Port of Houston Authority from opening for business operations Wednesday," the port said in a prepared statement late Tuesday.
The storm destroyed or blew away many navigational aids, and the Coast Guard has to sort things out before the Ship Channel can reopen, an agency spokeswoman said.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Victoria Bonk said 103 vessels ranging from oil tankers to container ships were waiting Tuesday to enter the Ship Channel. She added that it was impossible to say when traffic might start moving in again.
"They are trying to figure out how much damage has been done," Bonk said. "They have got to figure out the hazards."
Even in the best of times, the Houston Ship Channel is considered one of the world's most difficult waterways to navigate.
The Houston Pilots board ships, then bring them in to port.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Is this causing many problems for y’all?
Oh yeah, all that good stuff straight from China: pet food, toothpaste, baby food...
I was more interested in the million and a half barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products the Houston Ship Channel typically imports.
Houston PING
I doubt too much of that goes into Houston...perhaps Long Beach.
Oil, my friend... oil.
ping
Not just that..
I work for a manufacturer in PA.. we get alot of raw materials from overseas mostly through New York City. If something like this would of halted our RM’s for longer than a week we would be hurting.
China is about 6% of the Port of Houston business.
I would have thought that with modern GPS, and competent local pilots, the loss of visual navigation aids, though a huge annoyance, would not prevent the safe passage of ships.
Wal-Mart’s largest single distribution center is right around the corner from Houston’s container terminal......bunches of chinese imports go thru there.
LOOP is open right now.
Whoops, I mixed up imports with imports/exports total.
Make that 2.8% of Port of Houston business is with China.
How much spare capacity did they have prior to the storm?
Chinese goods unload on the West Coast. It is uneconomical to ship them all the way around via the Panama Canal.
Yes, we have no bananas, today. Lot’s of ‘em over Gulfport way though, I’d reckon.
After Katrina, the Mississippi River had to be cleared of a number of sunken boats/ships.
I am not aware of much debris going into the ship channel, but with the storm surge, it is unclear if junk was pushed into the ship channel...
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