FSO Safer, an old and decaying oil tanker, has been anchoring five miles off Yemen’s coast from March 2015, when Houthi rebels gained control of the Red Sea coastline, near Al-Hudaydah.
International officials are trying to prevent a potential environmental or human catastrophe. The 362-meter (1.118-foot) Safer contains more than a million barrels (40,000,000 gallons) light, sweet crude oil. This liquid cargo could cause ecological disaster if it were to leak or explode.
The environmental catastrophe wrought by Safer may be greater than the one caused by Exxon Valdez. Many of the worst impacts on people would also be harmful to aquatic life.
Accidents involving the Safer could result in fisheries being destroyed that large areas of the region rely on for their food. They also would release toxic fumes into our atmosphere, potentially causing serious health problems for thousands. It would also pollute a vital source for drinking water that is essential to the communities in the region.
Most concerning is the possibility of the vessel igniting into a fireball of water that could explode with enormous explosive force, potentially causing ecological devastation.
The Safer is carrying four times as much oil as the Exxon Valdez. It’s not just the sheer volume of the vessel’s cargo that causes a higher risk, but also the climatic realities.
Another factor is the crude oil: The oil in the tanker is closer to diesel fuel than the North Slope crude oil. Because of the red sea’s unpredictable and changing currents, it would disperse quickly. The oil that first responders would need to contain the spillage site would be difficult to find.
Warm temperatures in the region could make it difficult for first responders to deal with the situation, as well as residents. Additionally, the ongoing war in Yemen could create additional obstacles for cleaning crews trying to contain a spillage.
Another major risk exists, one that dwarfs all concerns about how a spillage might affect ocean waters. The Safer is literally a floating time bomb.
International efforts to defuse FSO Safer have been unsuccessful for years. Recently, however Ibrahim Al-Seraji a leader in the rebels and de facto president Houthi-controlled Yemen signed an agreement for the Safer’s contents and transfer to another vessel so it can be safely removed.
The United Nations must raise funds to implement the plan, and provide an alternative facility that can be exported. Both are possible and urgently needed.
This is why the Houthi government and United Nations have reached an agreement that the world must take full advantage of. The process of offloading the weapons will be difficult technically and politically. It is the only way to ensure the ecological bomb off Yemen is dissipated and the people of Yemen can focus on the urgent matter of rebuilding their country.
