UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

Published purpose

This project seeks to prevent a catastrophic oil spill in the Red Sea. It aims to salvage and replace a decaying tanker off the coast of Yemen, near the port city of Hodeida. Production and offloading operations, suspended due to lengthy conflict in the area, prevented proper access and maintenance operations. This has resulted in the vessel decaying and loss of structural integrity. The tanker, FSO Safer, is at imminent risk of spilling, breaking apart or exploding. The UN has called on the international community to fund an emergency action plan to remove the oil from the tanker and replace the vessel. Project activities include: (1) providing ship-to-ship transfer of oil from the FSO Safer to the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC); (2) providing tank-cleaning and demucking; and (3) replacing the FSO with a floating CALM Buoy, permanently attached to a VLCC lightly modified to be an FSO.