The New Yorker magazine published a story on 6/25/2022 regarding a oil tanker vessel moored off the coast of Yemen loaded with a MILLION gallons of crude that is possibly about to sink, creating not only an ecological disaster for the local Red Sea area but another global economic disaster due to impacts to shipping lanes.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/can-the-interna…
After concluding its useful life as an ocean-going vessel, it was repurposed in 1987 as an off-shore fuel depot, terminating pipelines from shore into its tanks and providing means for other tankers to re-fuel from it rather than at shore. Now the ship is rusted out and at risk of breaking up. Due to the war that has been underway since 2014, the ship has had virtually zero corrective maintenance performed against any onboard systems, further heightening the risk of a major calamity.
Eliminating the spill risk will cost nearly $80 million dollars to remove the oil from the tanker and efforts to round up that funding have been complicated by international politics.
This seems to be another sign of how ill-equipped the world is right now to act in unison on any constructive solution. Eight million dollars is going to look damn cheap in comparison to the cost of cleaning up a spill and disrupting worldwide shipping in a world already failing to correct crippled supply chains.
WTH