In September 2021, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen was tasked with leading the UN System response on the Safer and coordinating all efforts to resolve the threat, as well as strengthening contingency plans in the event of a spill. UNDP is implementing the project.

The UN produced a plan to prevent a spill by transferring the oil to a safe vessel and installing a replacement tanker.

The UN has worked closely with the Government of Yemen in Aden. In September 2022, the Government of Yemen in Aden and Sana’a authorities each agree on a long-term solution – a replacement vessel to hold the oil tethered to a special buoy system – a CALM buoy – that makes it a Floating Storage and Offloading or ‘FSO’, will be installed.

Following consultation with maritime legal firms, shipbrokers, insurance companies and oil spill experts, UNDP secured a replacement vessel – the Nautica – from leading global tanker company Euronav. Since then, the Nautica has been modified so that it can function as an ‘FSO’. UNDP has also contracted leading global marine salvage company SMIT to undertake the ship-to-ship transfer.

A crew of experts onboard SMIT support vessel Ndeavor are now inspecting the Safer in order to assess its condition and make it safe. This is a risky stage of the process since nobody knows what the conditions on board are like.

The journey of the Safer is one of political complexities, operational risks, and funding challenges. To reach this point has not been easy.

The UN has mobilized UNDP, UNEP, IMO, OCHA, WFP, as well as UN Member States, private companies and the general public. This collaboration remains critical to the project’s success.

“With the marine salvage support vessel Ndeavor onsite, the project can now begin in earnest. This marks the culmination of tremendous amounts of work and coordination among UN agencies, maritime lawyers, oil spill experts and many more,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said. “It is also a clear sign of what multilateral cooperation can achieve, and a prime example of the importance of prevention.”

Even after the ship-to-ship transfer, the decaying Safer will still carry a considerable amount of viscous residual oil and pose a significant environmental threat to the Red Sea.

The operation has begun – but to finish it without delay, the UN is counting on further generous contributions.

“With $143 million we can save $20 billion in clean-up costs and untold billions of dollars of damage to the environment, to fishing, to shipping, and to tourism in the Red Sea area,” the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, said. “Do we prevent this catastrophe, or do we allow it to happen? It’s our choice. Let’s choose wisely.”

An additional $29 million is required to complete the work, including as a matter of urgency to repay the $20 million in internal bridge financing from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.

We cannot afford not to succeed – the potential impacts of failure are simply too great for the people of Yemen who are already suffering from years of war, not to mention the possible danger to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the wider region, and the global economy. We urge the international community to step up its support at this critical juncture.

We also thank the HSA Group, the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers and Trafigura Foundation, and Octavia Energy/Calvalley Petroleum and generous individuals that have contributed to the UN crowdfunding campaign for the plan.