The United Nations (UN) has announced the purchase of a supertanker to prevent a catastrophic oil spill off the coast of war-torn Yemen. This tanker will be used to receive the cargo of an abandoned tanker, the FSO Safer, anchored off the strategic port of Hodeida, which experts say could break up, explode or catch fire at any moment.
A major breakthrough for the United Nations Development Programme
Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), called the acquisition a “major breakthrough. UNDP negotiated the purchase of this supertanker, into which the equivalent of just over one million barrels of FSO Safer will be transferred. The latter, which is about 45 years old, serves as a floating storage and offloading terminal, but has not been maintained since 2015, when Yemen has been plunged into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises due to the war between the ruling government and Houthi rebels.
A very unusual ship for the United Nations
The acquisition of such a building is a very unusual action for the United Nations. The new supertanker, purchased from the shipping company Euronav, could arrive in early May and begin pumping operations. “Frankly, our only option was to buy a ship,” said David Gressly, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Yemen.
A high cost for an emergency operation
The UN estimates that the operation will cost $129 million, but the fundraising campaign to finance the rescue plan has raised only $75 million, with another $20 million pledged. If money runs out, the operation could be suspended, the UN warns. The United States has already contributed $10 million, and is calling on other countries to join them to complete the round of funding, “so that the UN can complete this emergency operation as quickly as possible,” according to U.S. diplomatic spokesman Ned Price.
A potential oil spill: a threat to the environment and the population
According to the UN, the Safer contains four times the amount of oil of the Exxon Valdez, the tanker that caused one of the biggest environmental disasters in the history of the United States in 1989. The environmental NGO Greenpeace had called last year for Arab countries to act “before it is too late”. The tanker threatens not only “the population of Yemen and neighboring countries” but also the ecosystems and biodiversity of the Red Sea.
