FSO Safer: Risks to Yemen's neighbours (Part 2)
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FSO Safer: Risks to Yemen's neighbours (Part 2)
Water, Ports and Tourism could also be harmed by the F.S.O. Safer
In Part 1, we saw how the fishing industries - no matter how well developed or not - of these neighbouring countries could still be affected by an oil spill from the F.S.O. Safer.
In Part 2, we will now briefly cover the other ways they and their people could be harmed. (Impacts to the environment will be covered in a separate series of posts.)
Water Supply
In one of the most arid regions in the world, water is a key and scarce resource for Yemen and its neighbours. While the negative by-products of using desalination plants on the environment are well documented - toxic brine can make its way back to the sea or inland with deleterious impacts on those ecosystems - and the process itself can be very energy intensive, they have proved to be a valuable source of alternative water production. With the worse case scenario seeing spilled oil from the Safer impacting the operations of desalination plants on the coastlines of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea within three weeks, this is a big cause of concern for all those people who rely on them for water.
Eritrea
Close by to the port of Massawa is the Hirgigo power plant which also has a desalination plant attached capable of producing 1000 cubic metres (or a million litres) of water a day.
Other, more modest, endeavours such as a solar powered reverse osmosis desalination plant installed by the Catholic Church of Massawa, is capable of producing a still valuable 1,500 litres of drinkable water an hour.
Saudi Arabia
50% of its total drinking water supply is produced by desalination plants, currently producing around 7.9 million cubic meters per day, with over 30 plants located throughout the country - mostly on the Red Sea - and several more on the way.
The recently launched Shuqaiq 3 seawater desalination plant - at a cost of US$600 million - is one of the Kingdom’s largest - with the capacity to produce 450,000 cubic metres per day using reverse osmosis and supply water for 2 million people. It is only about 400 kilometres up the coast from Hodeidah (near to where the Safer is moored) and is at risk if there is a spill.
Djibouti
While hopefully far enough away from the Safer, a recently completed wind-powered reverse osmosis desalination plant in Doraleh, right near Djibouti city, has capacity to provide water for 250,000 people.
Ports
An oil spill would severely hamper the operations of global shipping through the Red Sea region - book-ended by the Suez Canal in the north and the Bab-El-Mandeb Strait in the south - causing a backlog or reduction in the transport of and import/exports of Yemen’s neighbours, including landlocked countries.
Saudi Arabia
The western coast of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea is home to several of its most important ports, which are likely to be severely impacted by the disruption to global shipping up and down the Red Sea:
Jeddah Islamic Port - This is Saudi Arabia’s busiest and most strategic port, handling 65% of its imports, as well as assisting in the storage and export of its predominant commodity, oil. Jeddah is one of the Kingdom’s largest cities and is a gateway to Mecca and Medina. It is also an important source of logistical power for landlocked countries in the region who rely on it for their own imports/exports.
King Fahad Industrial Port (Yanbu) - North of Jeddah, this is Saudi Arabia’s main port for the export of crude, refined petroleum including petrochemicals, and other industrial goods, as well as the import of equipment used in the oil extraction industries.
Yanbu Commercial Port - A subsidiary port of King Fahad Industrial Port, this is used for general trading, cargo and also has facilities for passenger cruise ships, yachts and other passenger vessels.
Port of Jazan/Jizan - Right near the border with Yemen and at most risk of being directly impacted by a spreading oil slick from the Safer, it has trade links to many parts of the world and is the main import point for livestock from Africa.
Eritrea
Massawa (also spelled Mitsiwa) - Located in the north of the country and 64 kilometres away from the capital Asmara, it is Eritrea’s main port and has capacity for cargo vessels and tankers. It is utilised for exports such as fruit and vegetables, livestock and meat, as well as imports like petroleum, building and clothing materials.
Assab - Eritrea’s second port is actually mainly used to supply land-locked Ethiopia with imports such as crude oil and refined products in bulk, oil in drums, general merchandise, machinery, transport equipment and cement, as well as export goods like dry fish, coffee, seeds, linseed, hides and skin.
Djibouti
With few natural resources of its own, Djibouti is reliant on imports for vital goods such as food. What it does have though is a great location and so is an important refuelling point for passing sea traffic as well as acting as a regional transshipment hub. Major ports include:
Port of Djibouti - Djibouti’s main port, its position at the Red Sea’s southern entrance where Africa, Asia and Europe are linked by crucial international trade routes, means that it is an important regional transhipment hub for major African ports, its own trade, as well as that of landlocked Ethiopia. It has facilities for containers, dry cargo and storage.
Doraleh MultiPurpose Port - A subsidiary of the Port of Djibouti, this multipurpose port was built to handle overflow from the main port.
SGTD Terminal - Able to handle very large container ships, it reportedly has the highest quayside productivity in Africa.
Damerjog Livestock Port - It can handle 10 million heads of livestock a year.
Port of Tadjourah - It was originally built to support the export of potash but is now also a multipurpose facility to assist in the development of one of Djibouti’s poorest regions.
Port of Ghoubet - This is a major salt exporting facility serving the north of the country.
Red Sea Tourism
While the Red Sea region further north in Egypt is most famous for tourism and thus far away enough from the Safer to be directly impacted - although a spill would cause disruptions to general shipping traffic and the region - there are some sites close enough to the stricken tanker to be at risk.
Farasan Islands (Saudi Arabia)
A group of 170 small coral islands about 40 kilometres off the coast of the city of Jazan, itself under 300 kilometres north of Hodeidah, these have been promoted by the Saudi government not only for their lovely sandy beaches, clear waters and historical heritage, but also for their biodiversity (exotic birds, fish, mangroves).
Djibouti
While most popular for business tourism and adventure tourism rather than regular mass market tourism, the government is making investments in this direction, with its UNESCO sites, beaches, biodiversity such as sea wildlife (including whale sharks) and coral reefs.
Eritrea
The notoriously authoritarian and closed-off country does not have much of a tourism industry to speak of - with visas hard to get, Covid-19 not having helped and independent travel beyond Asmara prohibitive - but it reportedly has great diving, but limited and under-developed facilities.
This concludes two posts on the potential impacts to Yemen’s neighbours if the Safer spills its cargo. Next up will be a series of posts summarising the environmental costs if there is a disaster.