A SMIT Salvage team has arrived on site of the decaying FSO Safer in the Red Sea where they will begin the operation to remove one million barrels of oil from the vessel. This will avert the potential environmental catastrophe which forced the UN and the IMO to work in tandem to gain agreement to salvage the fuel in the vessel by transferring the fuel to a vessel acquired for that purpose and then to remove the FSO Safer for scrap at the suitable environmentally sound facility.
SMIT Salvage, a subsidiary of Dutch maritime services company Boskalis, signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in April for the operation.
The oil removal phase is being carried out by crews on board Boskalis’ multi-purpose cable laying vessel Ndeavor, which arrived at the site on Tuesday. The operation from here will involve an initial onsite inspection before transferring the oil to a UN-purchased Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), named Nautica, which is standing by in Djibouti before traveling to the site next month and receiving the oil.
More details: here.