AL-MUKALLA, Yemen – The United Nations has reported that roughly one-third of the oil on Yemen’s deteriorating Safer tanker has been transferred to a new tanker, as Yemenis expressed confidence over the rescue operation.
Achim Steiner, the UNDP administrator, stated on Sunday that 360.000 barrels of oil were transferred from the ageing tanker to the replacement tanker.
“The #FSOSafer transported 1.15 million barrels of oil.” To date, 360,000 barrels, or one-third of the cargo, have been transferred to the Yemen, the replacement tanker. “Our teams’ unwavering determination and great work continue to drive the #StopRedSeaSpill operation,” Steiner stated on X.
The UN confirmed this week that the long-awaited process of transferring more than 1 million barrels of oil from the FSO Safer vessel to a new tanker had begun.
The 47-year-old tanker has been moored off the shore of Yemen’s western city of Hodeidah since rust began eating away at the tanker’s wall, allowing water to enter.
Experts have long warned of a catastrophic environmental calamity if the oil from the tanker spilled into the sea, endangering the natural ecosystem and the livelihoods of thousands of Yemenis.
People in Yemen are hoping that the steps would put a stop to the threat presented by the Safer tanker.
Nabil bin Aifan, a maritime safety researcher from Yemen’s Mukalla and a Ph.D. candidate at Egypt’s Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, told Arab News that the operation would benefit Yemen by eliminating the threat posed by the Safer tanker and providing the country with a new tanker to store oil once the war is over.
“This is fantastic news that oil transfer from one tanker to another has begun,” stated the researcher.
“Despite its tardiness, this phase is crucial. The delay is being blamed on the Houthis and UN organisations for failing to exert effective pressure on the Houthis,” he said.
According to Basem Al-Ruzaigi, director of the government-controlled Mocha on the Red Sea, warnings about the tanker exploding or sinking have caused great concern among Yemenis, particularly those living along the country’s Red Sea coast, and the UN should take care of the replacement tanker.
“The (new) ship must be routinely maintained so that the tragedy and problem do not reoccur.”
Other Yemenis, notably the director of the port of Mocha, Abdul Malik Al-Shaibani, have stated that the UN is defusing a time bomb, but that if oil is stored in the new tanker and not maintained permanently, a second time bomb would be triggered.
“Safer is a ticking time bomb, and the alternative is likewise a ticking time bomb,” Al-Shaibani told Arab News.
“The oil must be sold, and the new tanker must be maintained thoroughly and continuously, not just for six months, as the UN says,” he stated.
Source: Arab News