2023-05-20 21:56:23
Image: environmental organization Holm Akhdar/dpa
For years, the cargo ship “FSO Safer” has been like a powder keg off the Yemeni coast. One of the worst natural disasters in recent history is imminent. But salvaging the freighter is complicated.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The oil freighter “FSO Safer” has been vegetating off the coast of Yemen for years – without any controls.
- If the tanker breaks open or there is an explosion, there is a threat of an environmental catastrophe that will affect the whole world.
- Despite high political and financial hurdles, a risky rescue operation is to start shortly.
They are alarming words that make you sit up and take notice. “This tanker can break apart or explode any day,” warns UN coordinator Achim Steiner in an interview with the “Bavarian Radio”. We are talking about the tanker “FSO Safer”, which has been rotting away off the coast of Yemen for years – including a considerable amount of crude oil inside. That in itself is nothing new, the ship has been there for 47 years.
The complex situation of the political conflict in Yemen makes it complicated and highly risky. Since the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran the impoverished country in 2015, civil war has raged. All efforts to find a lasting solution to the conflict in Yemen have so far failed. The country is economically exhausted, and the locals are suffering the most. The United Nations even speak of it greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time.
Hard to imagine, an environmental catastrophe would also occur. «Especially after the outbreak of the conflict, no more maintenance was carried out, which means that gases are forming in the tanks. Secondly, the ship is rusting, »said UN coordinator Steiner “Bavarian Radio” the location. Because the ship is in a combat zone, the tanker has not been properly inspected for years.
In the event of an explosion, there is a risk of a super meltdown for the Red Sea
If the worst case scenario actually occurs and the ship explodes or breaks, it would be a total meltdown for the Red Sea. “It would be a catastrophe that we may not have experienced before,” says Steiner blackly. Not only would there be a profound destruction of marine ecology, the situation would also worsen again for the already crisis-ridden and impoverished population of Yemen.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the country make their living from fishing. But in the event of an oil spill, fish stocks would no longer be usable within the next quarter century, according to Steiner. Because Yemen is on the route to the Suez Canal, international shipping would also be affected. Humanitarian aid from abroad would hardly be possible for weeks – the “gate of tears”, as the sea strait Bab al-Mandab is called, would be sealed for the time being.
Politically delicate situation encounters financing problems
The 368 meter long sea cruiser holds 181 million oil inside. For comparison: During one of the greatest environmental disasters to date, when oil from the Exxon Valdez flowed into the sea in 1989, “only” a quarter of this amount polluted the ocean.
Even international experts can only speculate about the exact situation, such as the “Daily Gazette” writes. International inspectors have long been denied access aboard the ship, which is linked to an oil pipeline. The most recent photos from «FSO Safer» are four years old. Only the Houthi rebels know the exact situation, if at all.
Bild: UN Council via AP
However, the lack of access to the tanker is just one difficulty in a very long list of problems. Financially, too, the rescue operation by “FSO Safer” is a tour de force. According to the United Nations (UN), 148 million dollars are needed to recover the steel colossus.
Although they collected at the beginning of May on a virtual donor conference $5.6 million, but that’s far from enough. $23.8 million is still missing. The UN spokesman Farhan Haq appealed that this gap had to be “closed urgently”.
“There’s a lot that can go wrong”
So the situation is tricky, but there is still hope – also because Peter Berdowksi is involved. In 2021, he and his company made a significant contribution to freeing the container ship Ever Given from being wedged in the Suez Canal. In addition, his company pumped oil from the capsized Costa Concordia in 2012. At first he shied away from working with the UN, as Berdowksi reports to the “Tagesanzeiger”: “But when we realized what a disaster we had to prevent, we sat down with the UN.”
The plan is for the 333-meter tanker “Nautica” from China to pump the oil out of the dilapidated tanker – into the “Ndeavor”. Both rescue ships are expected to arrive in Djibouti, i.e. in the immediate vicinity of the location of the “FSO Safer”, within the next few days. And with them 45 specialists, chemists, divers and structural engineers.
“We now have the best conditions for solving this problem in eight years,” says UN coordinator Achim Steiner with confidence. Ian Ralby, consultant for maritime law and maritime security, however, sows doubts: “A terribly risky approach. A lot can go wrong there.”
Crew relies on help from Houthi rebels
If the crew arrives safely at the “FSO Safer” – for this they are dependent on the help of the Houthi rebels because of the partly mined waters – the most important task will initially fall to the chemists. Protected by protective suits, they should find out which parts of the ship can be entered.
Even then, important questions arise. The functionality of the valves for the pressure release is just as questionable as that of the pump systems on board. There are also question marks behind the nature of the anchor system, the connections to the pipeline and the ship’s hull. “Our plan so far is just a skeleton. The meat only comes on site,” admits Berdowski.
Image: environmental organization Holm Akhdar/dpa
The planned use of generators on board the “FSO Safer” is also risky. In the worst case, there is a risk of an explosion that would result in a huge cloud of toxic smoke. Depending on the wind direction, harmful particles would settle on fields and plantations, almost two million people could be affected.
The second worst-case scenario would also have serious consequences: oil leaking into the ocean. Widespread fish kills, closed ports, humanitarian emergencies, lack of drinking water supplies – the consequences for the people in Yemen would be catastrophic, as well as for the maritime ecosystem.
Who scraps the «FSO Safer»?
Only when the last drop of oil has been pumped onto the “Nautica” can you take a deep breath – even if only for a short time. The FSO Safer situation is not a short-term project, and long-term solutions depend on negotiations with the Houthi rebels.
It is also unclear who will get the valuable raw material if the oil is successfully seized – if it is in good condition, the 181 million liters of oil correspond to around 90 million dollars. Likewise, the then empty pumped ship would have to be towed and scrapped. So only one thing is clear: If the most urgent problem, the prevention of the environmental catastrophe, has been averted, there are many more challenges lurking.
1684641932
#Rusting #tanker #shipwreck #puts #world #danger