Salvage operations to secure the FSO Safer tanker, a floating oil storage vessel situated off the Yemen coast, have received a further €7.5 million years rose to bridge the current funding gap and aid the repossession of the tanker.
The operation, which will be led by the United Nations aims at preventing a major oil spill within the Red Sea. Due to years of neglect, the FSO Safer tanker has aged and become vulnerable to causing an oil spill or explosion.
The tanker has onboard approximately 1 million barrels of oil. Consequently, the humanitarian, ecological and economic impact of a potential explosion or oil spill would be monumental and catastrophic. If an oil spill were to happen, it would disrupt the international shipping chain, including the Port of Rotterdam. The Netherlands and the United Nations are both hoping that the first funds will help to prevent an oil spill from happening and the consequential effects on civilians, wildlife and the environment, and the economy.
