A rusting oil tanker that has been described as a “floating time bomb” moored in the Red Sea is still waiting for a new vessel to remove its cargo of 1.1 million barrels of oil, the UN said on Tuesday.
The FSO Safer, an ageing 1970s-era tanker built to store oil from Yemen’s Marib oilfield, is under de facto control of Houthi militias, who occupy a nearby port after gaining ground during Yemen’s eight-year conflict.
It can store up to three million barrels of oil but currently holds more than one million barrels in a rusting hull that officials say is “irreversibly” damaged and leaking.
Inspectors say the corroding ship has been penetrated by seawater and can no longer be maintained, but a deal between the UN and the Iran-backed Houthi group to transfer the oil to a new vessel has floundered.
The UN says one reason for this is the Ukraine war, which has pushed up the cost of chartering tankers.
UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the availability of very large crude oil tankers “has decreased in the past six months, basically due to events having to do with the war in Ukraine.” Prices of chartering tankers had increased by half, he said.
He said donors have generously pledged more than $84 million of the funding required, and additional funding from the private sector is expected soon.
Mr Haq told the AP that more than $73 million of pledges has been disbursed and essential preparatory work has begun.
“All of the technical expertise is in place to undertake the procurement for the complex operation,” he said. “This includes a marine management consultancy firm, maritime legal firm, insurance and ship brokers and oil spill experts” as well as contracting a salvage company that will carry out the emergency operation, which is at an advanced stage.
“However, the key challenge at present is procurement of a very large crude carrier,” Mr Haq said. “The UN cannot begin the emergency operation until it is certain that a safe crude carrier will be in place to take on the oil.”
He said the UN is working with a maritime broker and other partners “to find a workable solution and remains confident the work can begin in the coming months”.
The United Nations and Yemen’s Houthi rebels signed a memorandum of understanding in March aimed at resolving the environmental threat posed by FSO Safer to the Red Sea.
Internal documents obtained by the Associated Press in June 2020 showed that seawater had entered the engine compartment of the tanker, causing damage to the pipes and increasing the risk of sinking.
The United Nations, the United States and other governments, as well as Greenpeace and other international organisations, have warned for years that a major oil spill — or explosion — could disrupt global commercial shipping through the vital Bab el Mandeb and Suez Canal routes, causing untold damage to the global economy.
With reporting from agencies
