UN hands over boat for oil transfer from rusting Yemen tanker

The United Nations on Monday handed over a vessel that will take on board oil from a decaying tanker in the Red Sea, an operation aimed at averting an environmental catastrophe.

The handover ceremony took place aboard the Nautica, which is being renamed the Yemen, in the presence of Yemen's Huthi authorities who control the capital Sanaa.

In the coming days, an operation is expected to begin pumping 1.14 million barrels of crude oil to the Nautica from the FSO Safer, a rusting 47-year-old ship that the UN describes as a "ticking time bomb".

The UN-owned ship arrived off war-torn Yemen on Sunday.

Monday's ceremony highlighted close cooperation between the UN and the Huthis, who since 2015 have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government based in the southern Yemeni city of Aden.

The UN had been hoping for a low-key event, but the Huthis invited high-ranking officials from various ministries as well as more than 20 local journalists to board the new ship.

As high-ranking Huthi officials looked on, David Gressly, the UN resident coordinator for Yemen, signed the handover papers along with Edrees al-Shami, the Huthi-appointed executive general manager of SEPOC, the Yemeni oil and gas company.

Gressly said the ship transfer had been organized with the participation of all parties to Yemen's conflict and that it now belonged to "the people of Yemen".

However, Huthi officials have said it will now fall under their control.

The Nautica, purchased by the UN in March, is smaller than the Safer, with a clean, rust-free red-and-blue hull.

It is expected to moor alongside the Safer so that pumping can begin by the end of this week.