Richard Meade

@vesselspotter.bsky.social - Hafnia tells me that Palermo has not been in their pools since April 2020

Superb tracking here from @pa.nton.cx. I am intrigued to see if either ship is ultimately stopped, or if this is just a case of enhanced monitoring. None of the NB8++ governments have been keen to talk recently. Our report from earlier this week now free to read:
www.lloydslist.com/LL1154431/Ba...

Both Yemen and the still floating FSO Safer are now under the effective control of the Houthis, the Iran-backed Yemeni militia group responsible for attacking over 100 ships since November 2023.

Lloyd’s List has tracked at least three separate ship-to-ship transfers of Russia-origin cargoes onto the VLCC Yemen since it was purchased by the UN in 2023 as part of an operation to salvage the oil on board FSO Safer, a 49-year-old floating storage unit that was in danger of sinking.

Exclusive: How a UN-purchased tanker became a Houthi floating storage facility for Russian oil A VLCC acquired by the UN for $55m to prevent a massive oil spill off Yemen is essentially being used by the Houthis as floating storage for Russian oil, while costs for running the vessel are still being fronted by the UN

Exclusive: A tanker purchased by the UN for $55m using international donations as part as an operation to avert an environmental crisis in Yemen, is being used by the Houthis as a floating storage facility for Russia-origin gasoil

www.lloydslist.com/LL1154126/Ex...