Banner Image

All Services

Writing & Translation Articles & News

A Plan to Avert a Vast Oil

$25/hr Starting at $25

A decaying tanker holds about four times the amount of oil leaked in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. Experts have warned that it is an ecological time bomb that could explode or disintegrate at any moment.

A United Nations operation to avert a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea by salvaging a decaying supertanker off the coast of Yemen is moving forward this week after years of delays.

The oil tanker, the FSO Safer, holds more than 1 million barrels of oil, about four times the amount leaked in the disastrous Exxon Valdez spill of 1989.

A crew that plans to inspect the rusting tanker set sail on Monday from Djibouti in East Africa to the port of Hudaydah on Yemen’s west coast, arriving on Tuesday. The tanker is moored north of the port city and was once the site of fierce battles in the country’s eight-year-old war, which created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

If all goes as planned, the team’s inspection will pave the way for an operation to transfer the oil to a seaworthy tanker purchased by the United Nations earlier this year.

The FSO Safer originally functioned as a floating storage facility fed by a pipeline that carried oil from eastern Yemen. But the war left it isolated, and it has been poorly maintained for years, prompting the United Nations and Yemeni experts to repeatedly warn that it is an ecological time bomb that could explode or disintegrate at any moment.

If the oil from the tanker spilled, it would ravage marine life as well as the fishermen and coastal communities that depend on it. It could shutter ports crucial to bringing in desperately needed humanitarian aid in a country where hunger is rife. It could also force the closure of desalination plants that supply water to millions of people.

“The consequences of not doing anything would be dire and devastating,” said Mohammed al-Hakimi, the head of Holm Akhdar, an environmental consulting firm in the Yemeni capital, Sana. Leaks or an explosion could create “a major environmental disaster within a humanitarian crisis,” he added.

“Almost everyone in the Red Sea’s coastal communities makes a living from fishing,” said Khaled Zarnogi, a fisherman and the head of the Khokha Youth fisheries group in the town of Khokha, south of Hudaydah. He estimated that there were 10,000 fishermen in his town alone, in addition to others who earn their income from the fishing industry.


“If the tanker burst, all of those individuals would be out of work,” he said.

A spill could also have a cascade of repercussions for other countries along the Red Sea, including Saudi Arabia and the East African nations of Eritrea and Djibouti. Damage to coral reefs would hamper Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to develop luxury tourism along its Red Sea coastline. And because the tanker is near key shipping lanes, even global trade could be affected.


About

$25/hr Ongoing

Download Resume

A decaying tanker holds about four times the amount of oil leaked in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. Experts have warned that it is an ecological time bomb that could explode or disintegrate at any moment.

A United Nations operation to avert a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea by salvaging a decaying supertanker off the coast of Yemen is moving forward this week after years of delays.

The oil tanker, the FSO Safer, holds more than 1 million barrels of oil, about four times the amount leaked in the disastrous Exxon Valdez spill of 1989.

A crew that plans to inspect the rusting tanker set sail on Monday from Djibouti in East Africa to the port of Hudaydah on Yemen’s west coast, arriving on Tuesday. The tanker is moored north of the port city and was once the site of fierce battles in the country’s eight-year-old war, which created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

If all goes as planned, the team’s inspection will pave the way for an operation to transfer the oil to a seaworthy tanker purchased by the United Nations earlier this year.

The FSO Safer originally functioned as a floating storage facility fed by a pipeline that carried oil from eastern Yemen. But the war left it isolated, and it has been poorly maintained for years, prompting the United Nations and Yemeni experts to repeatedly warn that it is an ecological time bomb that could explode or disintegrate at any moment.

If the oil from the tanker spilled, it would ravage marine life as well as the fishermen and coastal communities that depend on it. It could shutter ports crucial to bringing in desperately needed humanitarian aid in a country where hunger is rife. It could also force the closure of desalination plants that supply water to millions of people.

“The consequences of not doing anything would be dire and devastating,” said Mohammed al-Hakimi, the head of Holm Akhdar, an environmental consulting firm in the Yemeni capital, Sana. Leaks or an explosion could create “a major environmental disaster within a humanitarian crisis,” he added.

“Almost everyone in the Red Sea’s coastal communities makes a living from fishing,” said Khaled Zarnogi, a fisherman and the head of the Khokha Youth fisheries group in the town of Khokha, south of Hudaydah. He estimated that there were 10,000 fishermen in his town alone, in addition to others who earn their income from the fishing industry.


“If the tanker burst, all of those individuals would be out of work,” he said.

A spill could also have a cascade of repercussions for other countries along the Red Sea, including Saudi Arabia and the East African nations of Eritrea and Djibouti. Damage to coral reefs would hamper Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to develop luxury tourism along its Red Sea coastline. And because the tanker is near key shipping lanes, even global trade could be affected.


Skills & Expertise

Article WritingJournalismJournalistic WritingNews WritingNewspaper

0 Reviews

This Freelancer has not received any feedback.