Damaged ship Rubymar at risk of sinking near Red Sea without port assistance

The exclusive chartering broker to the owner of the damaged Rubymar ship that is now only partly afloat is still looking for a safe port to accept it before it completely sinks, opening the possibility of even more environmental damage from the fertilizers on board and ship fuel.

"We are waiting for a tug boat to come and start towage of the vessel," Roy Khoury, CEO of Blue Fleet Group, told S&P Global Commodity Insights Feb. 28. It's not clear if the ship can be towed to Saudi Arabia after getting rejected at other ports, he said.

The International Maritime Organization has been in contact with Yemen's official government to discuss how to deal with pollution from the Rubymar while working with other UN agencies to resolve the matter, an IMO spokesperson told S&P Global. "The government of Yemen is coordinating the response," the spokesperson said.

IMO member states have agreed a ship in distress should be salvaged in one of their conventions. The International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue establishes the obligations of coastal states to assist ships in distress, but it does not explicitly include a provision to offer a place of refuge.

In separate guidelines, the IMO also said coastal states should aid ships calling for help but are not under international law required to receive them.

Khoury said the Rubymar is still in the same condition as it was two days ago, when he said the engine room and No. 5 hold were under water. A ship image distributed by TradeWinds news that it said was obtained from the Houthis show the back end of Rubymar is close to sinking. The US Army has offered to help, Khoury said.

The Rubymar was attacked off the coast of Yemen by the Houthis Feb. 18, in the most damaging strike yet on a commercial ship since the Iran-backed militants began targeting US, UK and Israel-linked ships over the Israel-Hamas war.

The Belize-flagged, UK-owned Rubymar was "anchored but slowly taking on water," CENTCOM said Feb. 24 on X, formerly Twitter. The ship was carrying more than 41,000 mt of fertilizers "which could spill into the Red Sea and worsen this environmental disaster," it added.

Rubymar suffered "significant damage" from the Houthi attacks and left an 18-mile oil slick, posing a threat to the fishing industry, coastal communities and imports of food supplies, CENTCOM said. The crew abandoned ship after it was struck, military officials said.