First commercial ship moves down waterway since oil spill

KFDM News captured video of the first commercial vessel to move down the Sabine-Neches Waterway since its closure Saturday.

A collision involved the Eagle Otome crude oil tanker and a barge spilled 462,000 gallons of crude into the waterway and closed the channel to incoming and outgoing traffic.

The tanker was moved to a dock Tuesday, and Wednesday, the Coast Guard partially reopened the channel.

The ships aren't racing down the waterway, but at least ten vessels that were stuck at port will move down the channel and into the Gulf.

The first commercial vessel to transit the Sabine-Neches waterway since its closure Saturday is the Greek-flagged Maya. We captured video of the Maya near the Martin Luther King Junior bridge

A spokesman for the Sabine Pilots Association told KFDM News ten ships that were docked at ports, refineries and other locations on the channel are moving into the Gulf. He says that is a majority of the vessels that were in a holding pattern.

Once the Maya and the others move out, at least six tankers carrying crude will move in. They'll leave the Gulf beginning Thursday, and with help from the Sabine Pilots, the vessels will move up the channel and deliver the crude to refineries waiting to turn it into gasoline and other products.

About 14 ships have been in the Gulf, waiting for the go ahead to move inland.

The pilots say after Thursday the waterway should just about return to normal.

The ships must travel no more than five or six miles an hour in the 24 mile no wake zone, to avoid causing the oil in the waterway to move around too much.