On the morning of 9 March 2001, NOAA was notified of a barge collision at the intersection of the Intercoastal Waterway and the Houston Ship Channel at approximately 0530 hrs. One barge owned by Kirby Marine carried 27,000 bbl of NAPTHA, and was holed and leaking. The initial report suggest a loss of 2,500 bbl, but this estimate was down-graded to between 800-1000 bbl actually lost to the sea from the double-hulled barge by 0730 hrs. The spilled product was characterized as heavy, straight run naptha with a boiling point of >65?C and a density of 0.788 relative to pure water. A MSDS provided indicated that the product contained 1% BENZENE. NOAA was requested to provide scientific support and a trajectory forecast. USCG district 8.

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Note: Documents are posted chronologically and early reports likely contain factual errors. These errors may be corrected in a later report.