A Greek tanker that sparked fears of a major oil spill after it was hit in a Houthi attack is offloading its cargo two months after the incident in the Red Sea.
TradeWinds reported in September when salvage operations began that the plan was to bring the 163,800-dwt Sounion (built 2006) to the Suez region in Egypt to transfer its cargo.
According to Greece’s state-run ANA news agency that is happening now, with the Delta Tankers ship transferring 1m barrels of oil to a sister vessel, the 158,000-dwt Delta Blue (built 2012), at the port of Suez in Egypt.
“The vessel is at Suez, and as it’s at a safe anchorage, we are no longer monitoring it,” a source at Greece’s merchant marine ministry told AFP news agency.
Citing ministry sources, ANA said the lightering operation began on Thursday and will last between three and four weeks.
The Sounion was first attacked on 21 August, losing power off the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah.
The next day, its crew of 25 was rescued after abandoning the ship following repeated attacks by missiles and small boats.
The Houthi group then claimed to have placed explosive charges on its deck, starting fires.
The Yemeni militia later released a slick video showing this operation.
In September, European Union maritime safety body Aspides said the Sounion was not under its protection at the time of the attack.
The ship’s original course “was a bit of a mystery”, the ministry source told AFP.
“We were told it was heading from Iraq to Singapore. If that were the case, how did it end up in the Red Sea?” the source added.
Firefighting on the laden tanker took almost seven weeks.
A tow operation eventually moved the Sounion to Suez.
