Trans Alaska oil pipeline reopened after shutdown

Operators stopped pumps along the 800-mile pipeline at 8 p.m. The line was reopened at 2 a.m.

A spokeswoman for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. says two tankers are berthed in Valdez now. Pipeline officials hope weather will improve enough to start transferring oil to the tankers around 9 a.m.

Tankers can't be loaded when bad weather makes deploying a boom around docked tankers too dangerous, or when waves slosh over the boom, rendering it ineffective for containing a spill.

Tankers have not been able to load since Sunday morning.