The United Nations Development Programme Thursday announced that it has finalized a contract with the leading Dutch maritime services company Boskalis to preventing a massive oil spill off Yemen?’s Red Sea coast.
The UN office in Benelux in a press release today said Boskalis?’s support vessel Ndeavor will sail en route to the Red Sea in the coming hours.
On Wednesday, the UNDP finalized the contract in Rotterdam for the Boskalis subsidiary SMIT Salvage to transfer the million barrels of oil aboard the FSO Safer to a safe replacement vessel and prepare the Safer for towing to a green scrapping yard. The work off Yemen?’s Ras Isa peninsula is expected to begin in May.
“The agreement today between UNDP and Boskalis subsidiary SMIT Salvage, to deploy a team of leading experts aboard the Ndeavour marks another critical milestone of the ?‘Stop Red Sea Spill?‘ operation to transfer oil from the decaying FSO Safer to a safe temporary vessel,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.
“This operation highlights the unique role the UN can play to address the world?’s seemingly intractable problems. UNDP and other partners inside and outside the UN should be proud of their roles in getting us this far,” said David Gressly, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen.
On his part, Peter Berdowski, CEO Boskalis said “following a long planning period, our salvage experts are keen to get to work and remove the oil from the Safer.
“An enormous oil disaster is looming, which could have serious humanitarian, environmental and economic implications. But we now have a chance to prevent that disaster,” said the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher.
“The Netherlands has worked hard to mobilise funds for the operation and now a major new step has been taken. It?’s good that Dutch firm Boskalis is taking on a key role in the response. The Netherlands will continue helping the UN to bring this to a good end,?’?’ added the Cutch minister.
The United Nations has received firm funding commitments of US 99.6 million. The total budget for this first phase is USD 129 million, leaving a gap of USD 29.4 million. An estimated USD 19 million is required for the second phase of the operation.
The Safer has been moored about nine kilometers off Yemen?’s Ras Isa peninsula since 1988 and could explode or break up at any time. Due to the conflict in Yemen, the FSO Safer has decayed to the point where there is an imminent risk it could explode or break apart, which would have disastrous effects on the region and beyond, noted the press release.
Source: Kuwait News Agency