YPC: Continued Piracy of Fuel Ships Undermines Peace Efforts in Yemen
The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) confirmed that the continuation of piracy of fuel ships in the Red Sea and not allowing them to enter the port of Hodeidah undermines all desired peace efforts in Yemen.
The company’s CEO, Ammar Al-Adrai, explained that the piracy of fuel ships by the US-Saudi aggression is a collective punishment and a violation of international laws, as fuel is linked to the daily lives of citizens. The company’s official spokesman, Issam Al-Mutawakel, indicated that the YPC sent messages during the past few weeks to the UN envoy, Hans Grundberg, reminding him of the humanitarian situation of the Yemeni people due to the acute shortage of fuel.
He stressed that so far, the UN envoy has not moved and has not released the ships held by the US-Saudi aggression coalition, even though they are subject to inspection.
The coalition of aggression continues its piracy, detaining fuel ships, and preventing them from entering the port of Hodeidah, despite obtaining permits from UN, which aggravates the humanitarian catastrophe due to the suspension of many vital service sectors, especially hospitals, electricity, water, cargo trucks, as well as waste trucks.
Since June 2020, the aggression and its allied government have continued to prevent fuel ships from entering the port of Hodeidah, except for a few ships that entered the port with a large time difference between each ship. Most of the ships left the place where they were being held by the forces of aggression, with their full cargo, after accumulating delay fines, exceeding the price of the cargo.
A suffocating fuel crisis in all governorates is experienced under the authority of Sana’a. Most of the important vital sectors, especially the health sector, are threatened with suspension, while work has been disrupted in many productive and service sectors, which caused economic losses of millions of dollars.
The fuel stations announced that their stocks of oil had run out. Hundreds of vehicles stood in long queues in front of these stations, hoping that shipments of oil would arrive in the coming days.
Meanwhile, representatives of commercial power stations told subscribers in several neighborhoods of the capital, Sana’a, that these stations will have to cut off the power for hours during the day and night, as a result of the lack of diesel running these stations.