Vessel traffic on a two-mile stretch of the Houston Ship Channel resumed at 12:34 pm CDT (1834 GMT) Monday, after a fire on board the Navigator Europa was extinguished, the US Coast Guard said.
"The fire is out, all personnel are accounted for and on-scene air monitoring has not detected any further threat from the ethylene that was being transferred," said Coast Guard Petty Office 1st Class Andrew Kendrick.
"The tanker was in the process of onloading liquid ethylene when the fire occurred. But as far as what caused the fire, we don't know yet. That will be under investigation," he told Platts.
Just prior to the reopening of the two-mile stretch of the upper Houston Ship Channel, there were three ships in the queue to depart outbound and one tug and barge waiting to come inbound, said Kendrick.
The fire, which occurred while the 23,600 dwt Navigator Europa was docked at Targa Dock 1, caused the Coast Guard to shut part of the ship channel at 9:47 am CDT (1547 GMT), from Light 164 to Light 151 (near the Greensport Dock West).
"Coast Guard Station Houston response boats and Port of Houston fire boats responded immediately to secure the area and suppress the fire, which was reported to have come from the compressor room," Kendrick said.
