• The deck of Yemen's 'FSO Safer', which has not been maintained for years. Photos: IR Consilium
    The deck of Yemen's 'FSO Safer', which has not been maintained for years. Photos: IR Consilium
  • Corrosion in the boiler system. The severity of the ship's physical deterioration remains unclear.
    Corrosion in the boiler system. The severity of the ship's physical deterioration remains unclear.
  • The vessel has been called a 'ticking time-bomb' as gases are building up in its chambers.
    The vessel has been called a 'ticking time-bomb' as gases are building up in its chambers.
  • The ship's corroded auxiliary utility system.
    The ship's corroded auxiliary utility system.
  • The external piping system broke down on April 22, 2019, leading to an oil spill.
    The external piping system broke down on April 22, 2019, leading to an oil spill.
  • The vessel lacks a functioning cathodic system to protect it from corrosion.
    The vessel lacks a functioning cathodic system to protect it from corrosion.
  • The leaky vessel still contains 1.1 million barrels of oil.
    The leaky vessel still contains 1.1 million barrels of oil.
  • The hull of the 'FSO Safer', which could be sold for scrap.
    The hull of the 'FSO Safer', which could be sold for scrap.

EU to donate $3m towards salvage of Yemen's ‘floating time-bomb’ oil tanker


Nada AlTaher
  • English
  • Arabic

The European Union has pledged $3 million towards an operation to salvage a crumbling oil tanker off the coast of Yemen after a disappointing fund-raiser brought in less than a quarter of the cash needed.

The UN says it needs about $144m to fund the operation from start to finish, including finding a temporary replacement for the Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessel to take on its 1.1 million barrels of crude oil currently threatening fisheries and livelihoods in Yemen and beyond.

A pledging conference in the Netherlands on May 10 secured less than half of the $80m needed to finance the first part of the operation.

“Salvaging this tanker is also a very good example of international cooperation to prevent a full-blown disaster, which would affect the livelihoods of millions of Yemenis, as well as fishermen and tourist operators in the wider Red Sea area,” EU High Representative and Vice President Josep Borrell said on Wednesday, when announcing the donation.

A flurry of fund-raising activity was launched after the UN signed an agreement with the Houthi rebel group in March to finally end the risk posed by Safer which has been in need of maintenance and decommissioning for years.

Safer MOU
Safer MOU

Previous attempts to sort the matter out were blocked by the Iran-backed group, which controls the port of Ras Isa where the Safer is currently moored.

An oil spill or leak could cost billions in clean-up — and result in an incident four times as big as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

As progress remains slow on the Safer dossier, a two-month truce which began on the first day of Ramadan may be extended amid international pressure on the warring sides to maintain the significant reduction in violence on Yemen’s front lines.

On Wednesday, the Houthis said they were “studying” a request by the UN to extend the truce which is set to expire on June 2.

After an initial failure to launch commercial flights to and from Sanaa last month, a plane successfully departed from the Houthi-controlled capital to Jordan for Yemenis to receive treatment abroad last week.

A second commercial flight took off from the Jordanian capital Amman to Sanaa, “as per the terms of the truce agreement”, in a positive sign that Yemen might be finally on its way to more peaceful times, after the Houthis took control of the capital in 2015 and the government launched a counter-offensive which led to all-out war.

THE SPECS

Aston Martin Rapide AMR

Engine: 6.0-litre V12

Transmission: Touchtronic III eight-speed automatic

Power: 595bhp

Torque: 630Nm

Price: Dh999,563

The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS

AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas

DevisionX – manufacturing

Event Gates – security and manufacturing

Farmdar – agriculture

Farmin – smart cities

Greener Crop – agriculture

Ipera.ai – space digitisation

Lune Technologies – fibre-optics

Monak – delivery

NutzenTech – environment

Nybl – machine learning

Occicor – shelf management

Olymon Solutions – smart automation

Pivony – user-generated data

PowerDev – energy big data

Sav – finance

Searover – renewables

Swftbox – delivery

Trade Capital Partners – FinTech

Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment

Workfam – employee engagement

Key developments

All times UTC 4

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

What is a robo-adviser?

Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.

These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.

Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.

Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
AUSTRALIA SQUAD

Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle

MATCH INFO

Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')

Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)

Updated: May 19, 2022, 11:27 AM