Oil Tanker & Merchant Ship Hit By Projectiles As Another Tanker Burns, Risking ‘Worst Spill This Century’ 

As the Greek-flagged oil tanker MV Sounion burns in the southern Red Sea, Iran-backed Houthi militants targeted two ships with missiles and drones in the critical maritime chokepoint on Monday. 

Reuters reports projectiles hit a Panama-flagged oil tanker and a merchant vessel. Security firm Ambrey confirmed the oil tanker was hit by two missiles, with sources indicating the tanker is named “Blue Lagoon I.”

Ambrey and the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the tanker was hit by missiles about 70 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s port of Saleef. The merchant ship was hit about 50 nautical miles off Yemen’s Hodeidah.

The security firm said it “assessed that the tanker was targeted due to company affiliation with a vessel calling Israeli ports.” 

Monday’s attack comes as the world braces for what could be one of the worst tanker spills this century. The Sounion tanker remains on fire and could be leaking oil. 

Red Sea littoral states brace for the worst tanker spill this century https://t.co/HKEpT6nAdY pic.twitter.com/WoXAzMqLCz

— Splash (@Splash_247) August 28, 2024

Here’s the latest on Sounion:

• Houthis Release New Footage On Tanker Explosion; Satellite Imagery Suggests Oil Leak Has Begun
• Houthis To Allow Salvage Crews To Access The Oil Tanker They Hit In The Red Sea
• US Warns Tanker Hit By Houthis Could Cause Largest Ship Oil Spill In History

Maritime news outlet Splash 247 noted the parallels between the Sounion and FSO Safer incidents. In recent years, a projected oil spill map for the FSO Safer was published due to the risk of a leak from the tanker anchored in the Red Sea. Fortunately, the tanker was emptied last year, averting a spill. However, that spill map could serve as a guide for assessing the potential impact if a leak from the Sounion materializes.

The Sounion is carrying 150,000 tons of crude oil from Iraq. The badly damaged ship risks spilling four times as much oil as the Exxon Valdez, arguably tanker shipping’s most famous casualty, potentially becoming the fifth worst oil spill of all time, according to statistics carried by the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF). 

The ship is carrying a similar amount of oil to the FSO Safer and is in a similar location to that vessel, leading shipping consultant Lars Jensen to highlight today the potential environmental catastrophe unfolding in the Red Sea. 

Splash has repeatedly reported on the United Nations’ operation to remove the FSO Safer from Yemeni waters. Last year, the UN bought a Euronav tanker and was able to empty the rusting, abandoned FSO Safer’s cargo of 1.14m barrels of crude oil.

Carrying over 1.1m barrels of oil, the FSO Safer was abandoned off Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hudaydah after the civil war broke out in the country in 2015. Since then, the vessel deteriorated significantly in the absence of any servicing or maintenance, prompting fears of a major environmental disaster 

To fund the FSO Safer operation the UN issued a report outlining the consequences if the FSO Safer situation was not resolved. 

“Now that study can be seen as a reasonable proxy for the consequences of a major spill from the Sounion given that both the geographic location and the amount of oil involved is almost the same,” Jensen, who heads up Vespucci Maritime in Copenhagen, wrote in a LinkedIn post today. 

According to the UN report, the FSO Safer oil spill impact would have devastated the fishing communities on Yemen’s Red Sea coast where 500,000 people make their living from the fishing industry with 1.7m dependents.

Desalination plants on the Red Sea coast could be closed, cutting off water supply for millions, the UN report warned, adding that oil could reach the shores of Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.

The UN estimated the clean-up bill from a possible FSO Safer disaster could have reached $20bn, just $1bn shy of the annual GDP of Yemen. 

“It does raise the question as to whether or not it is ethically prudent to operate major oil tankers through the area under the current circumstances,” Jensen mused.

Pictured below from the UN report on the FSO Safer, whose precarious circumstances were very similar to the Sounion’s, are maps showing the areas at risk by using colours to indicate how much oil is expected on the surface in different places and times. Ports are marked with black dots, and water treatment plants are marked with blue dots.

The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant ships with missiles and drones since Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza started in October. This continued turmoil in the Red Sea shows how the West’s “credibility and deterrence” is quickly eroding. 

Where is the rightful outrage from environmentalists? Thousands of tons of crude oil will now pour into the Red Sea.
This is a clear sign of the collapse of American credibility and deterrence. Letting the Iranian proxy Houthis shut off a major maritime seaway is an epic fail.… https://t.co/ThmzZ5FAED

— ErikDPrince (@realErikDPrince) August 24, 2024

This perceived weakness could only embolden China to escalate disputes in the South China Sea, which by the way, was seen over the weekend (read: “South China Sea Flashpoint: Philippines Accuses China Of “Intentionally Ramming” Coast Guard Vessel”).