Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile will be hosting until next Thursday the four-day annual meeting of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, IAATO which has a confirmed attendance of over a hundred representatives from the industry.
A demonstration by pickets in the Argentine Tierra del Fuego port of Ushuaia protesting the docking of the ‘Star Princess’ cruise which arrived from the Falkland Islands was contained by local security forces and the blaring of ‘God save the Queen’.
By John Fowler - According to the Argentine view of things, the Falkland Islands are Las Islas Malvinas and the capital city is not Stanley, which was founded in 1844, but Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, which did not really begin to be a town till 1881 with the establishment of a penal colony there.
Most probably this cruise season 2012/2013 will be remembered not for the record number of calls or visitors (estimated in half a million) but as a new case of Argentine intolerance with the Malvinas Islands in centre stage, writes La Nacion columnist Emiliano Galli.
P&O, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation Plc and one of the world’s leading cruise operators will be omitting Puerto Madryn, Ushuaia and Buenos Aires from its 2013 season because of the difficulties encountered by its red ensign vessels in Argentine ports during recent months. However the company confirms that the vessels will continue to call in the Falkland Islands.
Ushuaia tourism operators expressed concern and called for common sense to prevail after two major cruises finally decided this week not to call at in Argentine Tierra del Fuego after local authorities could not guarantee that the visiting vessels would not be exposed to the same intimidation tactics and delays experienced recently in Buenos Aires and earlier this year in the extreme south terminal because they include the Falkland Islands in their itineraries.
The Bahamas flagged cruise vessel ‘Seabourn Sojourn’ that on Thursday berthed at Ushuaia reported to Argentine port authorities it has no plans to visit the Falklands/Malvinas Islands according to press reports from the capital of Argentine Tierra del Fuego.
The UK is pursuing actions through the European Union, the World Trade Organization and the International Maritime Organization following the latest intimidation incidents from Argentina against the Falkland Islands and which also involve interfering with the free passage of shipping and free trade.
In what is seen as another step of Argentina’s noose-tightening of the Falkland Islands’ economy and development, the Buenos Aires Province Senate passed a law on Thursday banning British flagged vessels from calling at Argentina’s largest province ports.
The Panama flagged cruise vessel M/V Ushuaia is expected to arrive early next week in South Georgia to pick up the stranded 114 passengers and crew of a similar small cruise M/V Plancius which after experiencing serious propulsion trouble took shelter at King Edward Point Research Station in Grytviken.