Icy Rivers Slow New York Barges Trying to Deliver Heating Fuel
Shivering New Yorkers may have to pay more to get warm as ice in the Hudson River delayed fuel-barge deliveries and the U.S. government warned of a home heating-fuel shortage from the East Coast to Texas.
The Coast Guard has deployed four of its five Hudson River ice-cutting vessels since Dec. 30 to carve out a path for tankers hauling motor and heating fuels to supply terminals around the city.
River ice thickened to 6 inches north of Poughkeepsie, New York, over the weekend, according to Steve Strohmeyer, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman. The agency later warned of ice conditions forming around Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
U.S. retail diesel prices averaged $2.87 a gallon on New Year’s Day, the most since June 2015, according to motorist group AAA.
With assistance by Lucia Kassai
