Some shipping has resumed on a section of the Mississippi River that was closed after a July 23 oil spill, a US Coast Guard spokesman said Friday.
Portions of the estimated 1.59 million liters of fuel oil that spilled into the river after a ship struck a barge has been cleaned up, the dpa reported.
Following the fuel oil spill, a 100-mile section of the river near New Orleans was closed to shipping. About 100 vessels were stopped by the closure with 50 more ships expected to arrive at the closed section of the river before July 27. Friday a few of the ships were allowed to proceed.
The shipping spill is the largest in the US since November 2000, when about 567,000 gallons seeped from the tanker-ship Westchester about 60 miles south of New Orleans, Bloomberg news reported.
The Port of New Orleans is not receiving ships because of the spill and estimates that the closure is costing the US 275 million dollars a day due to supply chain disruptions. Ships and barges use the river to deliver goods to about 62 percent of US consumers, Bloomberg reported.
A Coast Guard spokeswoman Thursday said refineries operated by Valero, Exxon Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell may be forced to halt operations within three days if the log jam is not freed.