[bratticus]

All three Mexican oil ports closed - govt

Reuters
January 14, 2009

MEXICO CITY, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Mexico shut down all three main oil exporting ports on the Gulf coast due to bad weather, the government said on Tuesday.

... snip ...

[bratticus]

WTF "weather"?

I just see some stuff about rain.

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Lifestyle/200 ... 6-sun.html

[copious.abundance]

Don't they often close the Houston ship canal just because of mere fog? Seems no different to me.

Maybe ship captains are just weather wimps.

[pup55]

Yes, this happens quite a bit for the ports in Mexico. Some of the intense cold fronts cause windy conditions that cause the ports and some of the platforms to shut.

I think in years past, they would try to keep them open, but either last year or the year before (can't remember which right now) they had some fatalities this time of year under these conditions. Since then, they have been really sensitive to shutting the facilities for weather.

NDBC

Winds off Padre today are 15 knots from the east with gusts up to 17. I bet that is a cold wind, too.

42056

This buoy in the Yucatan Channel is showing downright nasty conditions. Gusts up to 31 kts, 7 foot waves. These are actually minimal tropical storm force conditions.

[lawnchair]

Crude under $34 a bbl isn't worth fighting even a stiff breeze over.

[the48thronin]

Crude under $34 a bbl isn't worth fighting even a stiff breeze over.

January 15 was in Belize... local weather from ship board instruments 6 ft swells, 35 K winds from North.

January 16 ship was able to dock at Costa Maya Mex after 3 tries, two other cruisliners ( one princess, one Skandanavian) both left without making schedualed stop. Local weather 7 ft swells, 40-43 k winds from NNE

January 17 west of cuba 7 ft swells, wind 40+ k NNE

Freighter laid off Belize did not try to make port.

All excursions by small boat canceled all three days.

It was wet and cool and so windy the top deck was closed off from use, but still better than spending the week ashore at any USA location according to the CNN international weather LOL