Greenpeace has blockaded the Houston Ship Channel — the US' largest fossil-fuel thoroughfare — by dangling two dozen climbers off a massive bridge over the busy waterway.

The Amsterdam-based environmental group's 22 activists plan to hang from Baytown, Texas' Fred Hartman Bridge with climbing ropes for 24 hours into Friday.

Calls to the Port of Houston and the Harris County Sheriff's Office have not been immediately returned.