A ship-to-ship transfer of crude oil from Sounion’s cargo tanks has begun in Egypt more than two months after the vessel was badly damaged in a Houthi attack, sparking fears of an oil spill disaster in the region.
According to Egypt’s Shipping Ministry, the operation is expected to take three to four weeks to complete,
Sounion was towed into the Suez anchorage south of the Suez Canal from the north of Yemen a week ago after about 20 fires burning on her deck had been extinguished.
EUNAVOF Aspides provided security during the initial towing, which began on September 14, when she was moved to a more secure location north of Yemen, closer to Eritrea. Salvage crews worked for six weeks to douse fires, mostly in the tank hatches.
However, Egyptian officials have now raised concern that the tanker’s structural integrity was compromised during the attacks on August 21 and by the later Houthi explosions on the deck.
The vessel was left without power and her bridge was destroyed during the initial attacks.
Officials said they were concerned that the vessel had no means of maintaining stability without power.
The Sounion was carrying 150 000 tonnes of crude oil (one million barrels) that had been loaded in Iraq when she was attacked en route to Rotterdam. The crew was safely evacuated by French naval forces the day after the first attack.
Greece’s Delta Tankers, which manages the vessel, dispatched one of its crude oil tankers, Delta Blue (158 322 dwt), to Egypt for the operation.
The Houthis said in a statement last week that the rebels would “continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and target all vessels belonging to it, associated with it or bound for it, and this blockade will continue until the aggression stops, the blockade of the Gaza Strip is lifted and the aggression against Lebanon is stopped”.
