Epic salvage of Sounion tanker complete

Salvage of last year’s most high profile Houthi vessel attack has been completed with sources telling Splash the tanker will now likely head for scrap.

Greek owned, laden oil tanker Sounion was targeted by Houthi militants in the southern Red Sea with the crew evacuating the following day and then the Houthis boarded the vessel and detonated further explosives on the main decks and bridge which started 19 fires and breached the ship’s cargo tank tops, a photo of which was selected last month’s as Splash’s image of 2024.

With the US State Department warning at the time the Sounion risked an oil spill into the Red Sea four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster, a commercial salvage operation, that ultimately involved more than 200 personnel, was launched by the vessel insurers, led by UK firm Ambrey.

The extensive firefighting mission required to make the vessel safe could not be undertaken in its initial location near the Houthi-controlled Yemeni coastline. However, a tow of a laden tanker whilst on fire was not something that had ever been undertaken at this scale before. Salvage operations could only begin once explosive ordnance disposal experts had inspected the vessel and cleared it of any unexploded ordnance or improvised explosive devices, its anchor raised, and a primary towing tug put in position.

The availability of advanced salvage and firefighting equipment within the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden is extremely limited. The scale and complexity of what had happened meant that specialist tugs were mobilised from Greece and firefighting equipment flown in on chartered aircraft, along with specialists from around the world.

In mid-September, a flotilla of seven salvage vessels supported by three European naval assets and close air support reached the Sounion and towed it to a safe and secluded location 150 miles to the north.

Firefighting faced huge challenges with the heat and humidity of the Red Sea, meaning operations were primarily conducted at night. Over three challenging weeks, the fires were extinguished, cargo tanks patched and pressurised with inert gas, and the vessel declared safe. In early October, it was towed north to Suez for removal of its cargo, which has now been completed.

Today is day 417 of the Red Sea shipping crisis brought about by the Houthis targeting merchant shipping in support of Hamas’s ongoing war with Israel. There has been no confirmed ship strikes by the Houthis in 2025 so far. The militant group targeted more than 100 vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden last year.