The UN has begun phase one of its plan to make safe the oil on board decaying storage tanker FSO Safer (IMO 7376472), which has been sitting off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah for seven years with a large cargo of crude oil on board. The UN obtained a reduced target of $75m through a crowdfunding campaign that started in June (it had originally hoped for more than $140m in order to fund the entire project).
Preparatory work for the operation has begun, including the processes to contract a salvage company and to obtain a vessel to which the oil can be transferred.
The UN said that it would “be able to provide a timetable for the work upon completion of the detailed operational plan and expects the salvage company to send a team to Yemen in November to finalize the detailed plan”.
Repair work on the Safer will be the first task, with any transfer of the oil off the ship unlikely to start before 2023.
On October 21st, the Houthi rebels demanded that the UN submit an operational plan for approval before it began operations on the sea.
