Clean up efforts are underway after an industrial supply train derailment early Thursday morning created a hazmat situation at the Port of Tampa.

According to Tampa Fire Rescue, the derailment happened just before 2 a.m. at the port. All access to the port was shut down while emergency crews dealt with the derailment but has since then reopened.

Fourteen industrial rail cars carrying highly flammable ethanol turned over and spilled, officials said.

Special equipment had to be brought in from Tennessee and Georgia. The equipment is similar to a crane and it will be used to right the cars and clear the tracks.

Officials say that's going to be a long and tedious process that could take up to 24 hours.

Crews were quickly able to handle the spill by spraying foam to cover and absorb the ethanol, which is essentially pure alcohol and highly combustible. 

Officials said the spill was quickly brought under control but crews are having to deal with the damaged cars. The morning rain and wind slowed the clean up as it diluted some of the effects of the foam on the spill.

"We've taken care of any fire risk by spraying the foam (on the spill)," said TFR Capt. Lonnie Bennefield. "And there are no concerns about spillage or runoff in the stormwater drain and into the Bay. Now we're waiting to get with CSX to get some vehicles down here that will upright the rail cars."

About 30 units responded to the derailment and hazmat spill.

Officials said they will continue to monitor the area while an investigation into the spill begins.

Each car could take an hour and a half to lift upright because they weigh more than 40,000 pounds.

They'll proceed with caution though to make sure crews aren't putting themselves into any danger.

“We’re going to try to do everything from a safety standpoint. That’s why we put down a foam blanket to make sure there’s no vapors that can be ignited from this flammable liquid,” said Captain Lonnie Benniefield, with Tampa Fire Rescue.

There’s still no word on what caused this derailment but speed wasn’t a factor. It was going less than 5 miles an hour at the time of the incident.

Two people, an engineer and a conductor were on the train when it derailed but neither one of them was injured.

The train was en route to the port of Tampa from Chicago.