Icebreaker “donation” for Argentina? Australia's “Aurora Australis”?

Monday, October 12th 2020 - 09:11 UTC

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The current icebreaker “Aurora Australis” is owned by P&O Maritime Services

According to reports in the Argentine media next November the Australian flagged icebreaker Aurora Australis will be docking in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, and then head for Buenos Aires where, allegedly, she will be incorporated to the Argentine navy fleet and will be participating next to ARA Almirante Irizar in the 2020/21 Antarctica campaign.

Apparently the Australian icebreaker currently docked in Hobart will travel to Ushuaia with a Wallaby crew and from then on will be replaced by Argentines, who will complete the trip to Buenos Aires. The Tierra del Fuego media suggests the icebreaker will be donated to Argentina, although this depends on P&O Maritime Services that actually own the vessel.

Last August when the Argentine defense minister, Agustín Rossi went to Congress to report on equipment for the Navy he revealed there was an offer of an icebreaker, to be delivered immediately and as a “donation”. The RVS Aurora Australis is thirty years old, specially designed for the Australian Antarctic Division and built at the Carrington Slipways in New South Wales. She is 90 meters long, has two Wärtsilä engines, in manned by a crew of 24 and can carry 116 researchers and explorers.

Since Argentina lost the “Bahia Paraiso” in 1989 after colliding with an iceberg, it never again was able to have a support vessel for its own ARA Almirante Irizar.

Australia meantime is preparing to receive its new state of the art 20,000 ton icebreaker, named Nuyima, under construction in Romania, at a cost of some US$ 700 million. Nuyina is the aboriginal name for the aurora, Southern lights, and was chosen in a national contest among Australian children. The new vessel is 160 meters long.

Categories: Investments, Politics, Antarctica, Argentina, International.

Tags: ARA Almirante Irizar, Argentine Navy, Aurora Australis, Australia, icebreaker, Ushuaia.

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MarkWhelan
It is nice to see that Argentina's economic conditions are fully understood internationally.
Australia realized that if they sold the vessel to Argentina they would have just spent more money than necessary trying to get any payment made. On the other hand by giving the vessel they look generous and caring in the worlds eyes and don't have to worry about further costs. That is until the ship breaks down as nobody in the new crew will think about maintenance.
Oct 12th, 2020 - 01:00 pm +5
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Goodbye beloved Orange Roughy! We tried to make you a museum to save you from being scrapped....

Alas, scrap it is!
Oct 13th, 2020 - 11:18 am 0
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TWIMC...

As MercoPress hasn't considered necessary to publish anything about Bolivia since July...

******“ CONGRATULATIONS..., PLURINATIONAL STATE OF BOLIVIA ”*****

As I wrote some eleven months ago... :
- Nov 11th, 2019 - 07:31 am
Anyhow..., if they don't kill him..., he will be back...
Fuerza Presidente Evo...
https://en.mercopress.com/2019/11/09/more-chaos-in-bolivia-some-police-officers-have-joined-protestors-in-several-cities/comments#comment505110

Capisce...?
Oct 19th, 2020 - 09:02 am 0

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