UN Raises Funds to Salvage the Safer Tanker

The Safer tanker. File photo
The Safer tanker. File photo
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UN Raises Funds to Salvage the Safer Tanker

The Safer tanker. File photo
The Safer tanker. File photo

The United Nations said Wednesday it has raised the $75 million necessary to salvage the Safer, a stricken tanker off Yemen, in an emergency operation aimed at averting a disastrous Red Sea oil spill -- and a potential $20 billion cleanup.

UN officials last month warned that the 45-year-old FSO Safer, abandoned off the port of Hodeidah, was a ticking environmental time bomb requiring immediate action.

"We are able to announce we have now pledges and commitment sufficient to start the FSO Safer salvage operation," said David Gressly, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen and leader of the global body's efforts on the Safer.

"It's a very key milestone," he said, adding that donor pledges have now topped $77 million.

The first phase of the salvage operation would stabilize the FSO Safer and transfer the oil to another vessel.

A second phase involving long-term storage of the cargo is estimated to cost another $38 million.

"We believe that we could meet that in a timely fashion," Gressly said of the cost.

The ship contains 1.1 million barrels of oil. The United Nations has said a spill could destroy ecosystems, shut down the fishing industry and close the Hodeidah port for six months.

The result would potentially be the fifth largest oil spill from a tanker in history, with the clean-up costs alone reaching $20 billion.



Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
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Syria Expects First Transfer with US Bank 'Within Weeks'

FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Syrian central bank, after the ouster of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, January 12, 2025. REUTERS/Firas Makdesi/File Photo

Syria expects to have its first transaction with a US bank "in a matter of weeks", Syrian central bank governor Abdelkader Husriyeh said on Thursday, a day after a high-level meeting between Syrian and US commercial banks.

The resumption of transfers between Syrian and US banks would be a key milestone in the push by Syria’s new rulers to reintegrate the country into the global financial system after 14 years of civil war, Reuters reported.

Husriyeh on Wednesday held a virtual conference bringing together Syrian banks, several US banks and US officials, including Washington's Syria Envoy Thomas Barrack, with the aim of speeding up the reconnection of Syria's banking system to the global financial system.

This follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement in May that all sanctions on Syria would be lifted. That has been followed up with executive orders formally lifting some of the measures.

Syria's reintegration into the global financial system would be a major step towards enabling the kind of large financial transactions needed to kickstart its reconstruction and economic activity, and help rein in a highly informal, cash-based economy.

Husriyeh extended a formal invitation to US banks to re-establish correspondent banking ties following the ouster of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on 2011 protests resulted in Western countries imposing one of the world’s strictest sanctions regimes.

"We have two clear targets: have US banks set up representative offices in Syria and have transactions resume between Syrian and American banks. I think the latter can happen in a matter of weeks," Husriyeh told Reuters.

Among the banks invited to Wednesday’s conference were JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank, though it was not immediately clear who attended.