Sabine-Neches Waterway Traffic Starts Flowing Again After Persistent Fog Lifts

By Mike D. Smith, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

Mar. 2–Clearing skies Thursday afternoon and a good weather forecast through the weekend will help tugboat pilots clear up ship congestion along the Sabine-Neches Waterway, according to pilot and towing officials.

Nights of thick fog earlier this week plagued ship arrivals and departures at Southeast Texas ports, but no major direct business impacts were reported at either the Port of Beaumont or the Port of Port Arthur, port officials said.

As of Thursday afternoon, pilots with the Sabine Pilots guiding service were using four sets of tugboats to guide nine ships into the waterway, service Capt. Ellen Warner said.

Seventeen ships were awaiting inbound escort from the Gulf of Mexico and two were waiting to leave Southeast Texas, Warner said.

“The wait is about twice normal, but we will hopefully be getting back to normal soon,” Warner said Thursday.

No ships moved along the waterway Wednesday, when fog persisted at the mouth of the waterway even though it burned off farther inland, Moran Towing of Texas operations manager Mark Koenig said.

“There was fog that hung at the mouth this morning, but it lifted,” Koenig said on Thursday. “It’s probably going to be crazy busy.”

Four ships waiting to enter the Port of Beaumont had been delayed by fog this week, port public affairs director John Roby said.

Two ships due to dock in Beaumont were awaiting entry Thursday afternoon, Roby said.

One incoming ship at the Port of Port Arthur was delayed earlier this week but already had arrived and departed as of Thursday, port assistant terminal superintendent Vincent Bartholomew said.

Warner said fog is a common occurrence in the region this time of year.

A string of foggy days during late December caused a backlog of about 30 ships, according to The Enterprise archives.

Winds picked up along the coast Thursday afternoon. Winds usually are not a problem for pilots unless they are about tropical-storm force, Koenig said.

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