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Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

MV/Anja. The ship is not insured to use Fox Bay jetty.

Headlines: ‘A step back for the West’ - SAAS is forced to drop Fox Bay from its schedule; Will Falklands Landholdings split up its farms?; Shackleton joins Ross and Fitzroy at school; Islander abroad honoured.

‘A step back for the West’

SAAS is forced to drop Fox Bay from its schedule

The news that the container ship Anja will be unable to call into Fox Bay has come as a blow to West Falklands residents.

The ship’s charterers, South American Atlantic Services (SAAS), had proposed that the 100-metre long Anja, which took over from the smaller Elisabeth Boye earlier this month, would make her first call into Fox Bay next week; however the company announced on Wednesday that this would no longer be possible.

The company had ascertained that for legal reasons the Fox Bay jetty could not be considered a, “safe port, safe berth,” meaning that if an accident were to happen SAAS would be uninsured and in breach of contract, with the possibility of exposing the company to a multi-million pound lawsuit.

In light of this, SAAS said it had to reluctantly accept that the ship would not call at Fox Bay. Marcelo Procopio of SAAS said the decision had been taken after “long and painful” consideration.

Ali and Marlane Marsh run an import business from their farm at Shallow Harbour on West Falklands and bring in, on average, around 30 tonnes of cargo to Fox Bay from Chile every six weeks.

Speaking to Penguin News yesterday, Marlane described the news as “bloody awful” and said it was, “a step back for the West.”

She confirmed that around 30 tonnes of Southern Imports freight was sitting at Punta Arenas dock which was due to be delivered to Fox Bay next week. “Now it will have to go to Stanley - which is a higher freight rate - and then we’ll have the extra haulage costs to the West.

“The link is essential to the Fox Bay and Port Howard stores too; it’s just horrendous news.”

Marlane said the service provided by SAAS up until now had been “excellent” and one which West Falklands residents were grateful for. The news of the Anja, she said, would, “make everything on the West even more expensive.”

As it announced the loss of Fox Bay from its schedule, SAAS said it was in direct contact with a haulage company enabling a link between Stanley to Fox Bay, “to offer our clients an intermodal solution that will allow them to export and import using SAAS services, through the port of Stanley.”

Can government help?

Councillor Mike Summers said the news that Anja would not be able to use Fox Bay had been, “not entirely unexpected.”

He commented: “The changes to the SAAS vessel always brought with it the possibility or even probability that the new vessel wouldn’t be able to get into Fox Bay.”

As a result, he said, plans had been made by the Development Corporation (FIDC) and Workboat Services Ltd (WSL) to cope.

There were both short and long term issues to address, Cllr Summers said: “The short term is the substantial amount of freight due to come in mid-June and the longer term is to do with wool movements. FIDC and WSL are working on some interim arrangements and SAAS themselves have said they are creating an intermodal service.”

However, he added: “The reality is that it’s not going to be practicable to move large quantities from Port Howard to Fox Bay by road in the winter, so arrangements will be need to be made to get that freight on the Concordia Bay to Fox Bay.”

Will Falklands Landholdings split up its farms?

The notion of separating the three farms which currently comprise Falklands Landholdings (FLH) is being explored by the government.

FLH currently operates North Arm, Goose Green and Fitzroy farms as one business.

A paper presented to the latest meeting of Executive Council (ExCo) sought direction on the proposal to establish Independently Operated Government Owned Farms as a way to restructure the organisation and, “make it more commercial,” Councillor Andrea Clausen said.

She commented: “Key advantages considered by the board include: that farms work separately with their own boards and their own accounts; settlement services would be split off; the general manager and central accounting and audit would be no longer required, and there would be no requirement to raise capital.” ExCo agreed in principle with the proposal but requested further work.

Also approved was the 2009/10 budget for Falklands Landholdings, along with a request for a renewal and extension to the overdraft facility with Standard Chartered Bank.

ExCo agreed to a further guarantee of the increased overdraft, resulting in a total overdraft facility of £300,000 for the 2009/10 financial year.

Shackleton joins Ross and Fitzroy at school

Shackleton will join Fitzroy and Ross in a move that is part of the School Improvement Plan, head teacher Alastair Baldwin announced yesterday.

“We are committed to improving the quality of all students’ learning and having three houses will have the benefit of stimulating more competition within and between classes,” he said. “It will also allow all students to be more actively involved in sports days and swimming galas.”

Having three houses will continue the same system as that in the Infant and Junior School.

The students were included in the decision to create a new house and were given the chance to choose its name. In the initial vote there were eight choices for students (which did not include Ross and Fitzroy) but none of them gained the minimum 50% vote. It was decided, therefore, to take the top two choices from the first vote, Falkland aircraft and Falkland mountains, and add Falkland explorers as it became apparent that many current students wanted to retain the names Fitzroy and Ross.

The final choices the students had to vote on were: Falkland planes (Harriers, Phantoms and Tornados), Falkland mountains (Challenger, Longdon and Usborne) and Falkland explorers (Fitzroy, Ross and Shackleton).

With a 54% majority vote, the explorers won out. This is likely to be a popular move within the community as many people had expressed concern at the loss of the names Fitzroy and Ross; a Facebook group called ‘Save Ross and Fitzroy’ was set up early in the week and yesterday had 205 members.

Islander abroad honoured

A FALKLANDS-born man has been named in the New Zealand Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Ronald Noel Harries, who worked at the government printing office prior to emigrating in the late 1950s, has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to soccer.

He has been involved in the game for many years, first as a player and then as a referee.

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