The United Nations yesterday started a challenging operation to remove more than 1m barrels of oil from the FSO Safer – a decaying supertanker moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast that threatens a humanitarian and environmental disaster.
In a critical step forward in the operation, the salvage support vessel Ndeavor, operated by lead marine salvage company SMIT, a subsidiary of Boskalis, and contracted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to undertake the transfer of the oil to a secure vessel, arrived onsite on Tuesday.
The Ndeavor’s crew of experts will inspect the Safer and undertake all necessary work to make it secure for the transfer of oil to the replacement tanker Nautica, which is standing by in Djibouti to travel to the site next month and receive the oil.
The start of the operation on the water comes after almost two years of political groundwork, fundraising and project development, led by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly.
The UN warned again yesterday that it is still millions of dollars short in funding to complete the delicate operation. Some $29m is still needed to safely moor the replacement vessel to a catenary anchor leg mooring buoy and towing the Safer to a green recycling yard.
Member states, private companies and the general public have already contributed $114m to stop the Red Sea spill, which has the potential to be four times worse than the Exxon Valdez disaster.
