FSO Safer: An entirely preventable disaster looms closer off the coast of Yemen

UN inspectors have again been barred by Houthi militia from attempting to assess and repair the stranded and decaying FSO Safer (Sam Chambers, 2020). The 44-year-old Yemeni oil tanker, carrying 157,000 tonnes of crude oil, has “reached a critical state of degradation” (Michelle Nicholas, 2020) after being stranded off Yemen’s western coast since 2015, when Houthi forces seized the area.

Saving the ship, however, is difficult as it has become a bargaining chip in the Yemen Civil War. The Houthi hint that they have mined the ship and demand financial guarantees before considering any resolution (Carlos Luxul, 2020), while the Yemeni government argues that the Houthi are using the threat of the ship’s disintegration for political blackmail (Asharq Al-Awsat, 2020).  

Failure to resolve the situation will be environmentally and economically devastating. The Safer could spill four times more oil than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster (United Nations, 2020), while disrupting one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and rendering Hodeidah’s port, responsible for 80% of Yemen’s imports (Aziz El Yaakoubi, 2018), inoperable. This would have a dramatic inflationary effect on food prices (Tesfa-Alem Tekle, 2020). It will also destroy the coastal-orientated livelihoods of 1.6 million Yemenis, 90% of whom already require humanitarian aid due to the ongoing conflict (United Nations, 2020).