Unloading of decrepit “Safer” tanker to new ship begins

SANAA, July 23 (YPA) – The UN technical work teams began on Saturday the process of unloading the dilapidated oil ship “Safer” off the coast of Yemen onto the replacement ship “Nautica”.

Last Sunday, the alternate tanker, Nautica, arrived at the port of Hodeida, and was officially handed over to the Sanaa government on Monday in preparation for the start of unloading the last load of crude oil from the Safer ship in order to avoid any leakage or pollution in the waters of the Red Sea.

During a press conference, the Minister of Transport in the Sanaa government, Abdulwahab Al-Durra, announced the transfer of ownership of the “Nautica” ship formerly , “Yemen” currently, to the Republic of Yemen, represented by the Safer Company, and the start of transferring the raw materials in the floating tank Safer to the new ship.

The Safer tanker was built in 1976 as a giant oil tanker and was converted after a decade to become a floating storage and offloading facility. The Safer floating reservoir is moored about 4.8 nautical miles off the coast of Hodeida province in Yemen.

The ship carries an estimated 1.14 million barrels of light crude oil, and production, offloading, and maintenance operations aboard the Safer were suspended in 2015 due to the war in Yemen.

As a result, the safety systems and the ship’s structure deteriorated significantly, and the absence of an effective system for pumping inert gas into the Safer oil tanks may lead to their explosion at any time, which will cause a major environmental disaster.

YPA