Natural catastrophes

24.7, Hurricane Dolly

US: ports serving two out of three Texas refining centres remained closed due to rough seas from hurricane “Dolly”. Neither the US Coast Guard nor vessel pilots could estimate when the high winds might calm enough for shipping to resume through the Houston or Corpus Christi ship channels. In Houston, where vessel pilots stopped steering vessels to the busiest US petrochemical port, at least 24 vessels were waiting to enter the ship channel, the Coast Guard said. Another 40 vessels were waiting to leave through the Houston channel, according to the Coast Guard’s Houston Vessel Traffic Centre. At least 13.5% of US refining capacity is supplied through the Houston ship channel. At Corpus Christi, five vessels were waiting to use the channel, according to the Aransas-Corpus Christi vessel pilots. Three refineries with a combined throughput of 784,000 barrels per day are in Corpus Christi. Valero Energy Corp said that it would cut production between 10% and 20% because of the Houston channel closure.