In Port News 05/05/2015
All traffic on the Houston Ship Channel under the Fred Hartman Bridge was halted Monday due to a potential suicide situation on the bridge.
The area was closed at 12:08 pm CDT (1708 GMT).
Vessel Tracking Service watch supervisor Albert Hernandez said the Baytown Police Department was on the scene.
Earlier in the day, the Galveston Bay entrance to the ship channel was closed while the US Coast Guard searched for a man who had gone over the side of a ferry.
“I’ve never had two situations like this in the same day before,” Hernandez said.
The suspension of ship movement in the Houston Ship Channel impacts the delivery and loading schedules of crude oil, petroleum and petrochemical products. The 52-mile ship channel provides access from the Gulf of Mexico through Galveston Bay to various ports in Houston and other cities in the area that have many industrial facilities, including refineries and petrochemical plants.
