Houthi attacks must ease for salvage of 2 vessels, UN shipping agency says
The UK-owned Rubymar last month became the first vessel lost since the Houthis began targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea area in November. The bulk carrier with 21,000 metric tons of fertiliser contained in its cargo hold has been submerged in shallow waters between Yemen and Eritrea since late February.
The Greek-owned True Confidence was abandoned earlier this month after being set ablaze in an attack that killed three crew members near Yemen’s port of Aden.
Salvage operations, which can include refloating vessels, towing and repairs, are critical to protecting marine life and coastal environments from damage from leaking fuel and hazardous cargo. Damage to the Rubymar caused a 18-mile oil slick and scientists remain concerned that a fertilizer leak could trigger devastating algal blooms in the Red Sea that damage vulnerable coral reefs and harm fish.
“We’re limited in what we can do in an area that is not safe and secure,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) said at a media briefing in London.
The Houthi’s escalating drone and missile campaign against commercial shipping has choked trade through the vital Suez Canal shortcut between Asia and Europe and forced many ships to take the longer route around Africa.
The Iran-aligned militants say their campaign against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is a show of solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
While the IMO is supporting efforts to assist the internationally recognized government of Yemen with salvage efforts in the southern Red Sea, it is difficult to do the same for the True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden, Dominguez said.
“It’s very difficult right now to access the area,” Dominguez said during a meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee. “Even for us to send consultants to support the Yemeni government for the salvage operations is not possible.”
In the case of the Rubymar, the ship’s fertilizer cargo is “still contained,” Dominguez said. The ship poses safety risks for other vessels navigating the area, he added.
For now, the 18-mile (29 km) oil slick remains the main environmental impact from Rubymar’s sinking, said Dominguez.
A salvage contract for the True Confidence has been signed, a spokesperson for the ship’s companies told Reuters earlier this month, but declined further details, citing security issues.
India’s navy evacuated all 20 crew from the stricken vessel.
The IMO will work with the United Nations Environment Programme and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to see how else it can support Yemen, Dominguez said.
A UN salvage team in 2023 avoided what could have been a devastating oil spill off the coast of Yemen by pumping more than 1 million barrels of light crude off the Safer, a decaying super tanker, to another vessel.
The Safer had been used to store oil from Yemen’s oil fields in Marib. It became stranded in the Red Sea in 2015, after the crew abandoned ship due to Yemen’s civil war between the Houthis and a pro-government coalition.
Moreover, Yemen’s Houthis have targeted a fuel tanker, MADO, in the Red Sea with naval missiles and Israel’s Eilat port and resort region with winged missiles, the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea said on Tuesday.
MADO is a Marshall-Islands flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker heading to Singapore from Saudi Arabia, maritime shipping trackers showed. The Houthis described it as American, but Equasis’s shipping database indicates that it is owned by Naftomar Shipping & Trading Co Ltd of Greece. Naftomar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran-aligned Houthi militants have repeatedly launched drones and missiles at international commercial shipping in the Red Sea region since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military assault in Gaza.
The attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to take longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa.
The United States and Britain, along with other navies, have carried out strikes against Houthi targets in response.
(Photo: A handout photo made available by the Yemeni Al-Joumhouriya TV shows the last part of the British-registered cargo vessel, Rubymar, sinking in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, on 3 March 2024 (issued 07 March 2024). [EPA/Yemeni Al-Joumhouriya])
