UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Development Programme has bought a large ship to store nearly 1.1 million barrels of oil that will be shifted from a decaying boat off Yemen’s coast in a bid to avoid an environmental crisis, officials said.
David Gressly, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, said that the purchase of this vessel is a very significant step forward in resolving the FSO Safer problem in the last seven to eight years.
The UN has been warning for years that the 47-year-old FSO Safer supertanker could prove a ticking time bomb that could leak, explode, or sink, unleashing a vast humanitarian and ecological catastrophe.
The economic fallout and environmental damage would affect countries in the Red Sea region and cost about 20 billion dollars to clean up, in addition to disturbing international shipping through the strait of Bab al-Mandab to the Suez Canal.
UN worried about supertanker
The supertanker has had no maintenance since 2015 when it was largely abandoned due to Yemen’s civil war.
UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner told journalists that his agency signed a deal on Thursday with Belgian shipping firm Euronav to buy what is known as a Very Large Crude Carrier. The 332-meter-long double-hulled ship cost 55 million dollars.
He said that the ship is currently at dry dock for necessary modifications and maintenance before going toward the Red Sea to be parked with FSO Safer, which is currently moored about 4.8 nautical miles off Ras Isa peninsula, Yemen.
Steiner said the crude oil carrier is currently undergoing the necessary modifications in China and is likely to sail for Yemen within the upcoming month. There it will be joined by salvage company SMIT experts who will board the Safer to complete the transfer operation, which should take 2 months. –APP
