Texas waterway opens to limited ship traffic following oil spill that shut down major port

Waterway opens to limited traffic after oil spill

PORT ARTHUR, Texas — A southeast Texas waterway has opened to limited traffic after 462,000 gallons of light crude oil spilled over the weekend when two vessels collided.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the Sabine-Neches Waterway next to Port Arthur reopened Wednesday.

The oil spilled into the water from the Eagle Otome on Saturday after the 800-foot tanker collided with a towboat pushing two barges. The damaged Otome was moved to the Sunoco oil terminal in Beaumont on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard says about 534,000 gallons of a mixture of oil and water have been recovered so far. It says six birds were found covered with oil. Two were found dead and the remaining four are being cleaned and treated.