MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Supplies and staff arrive at Uruguay's Artigas base in Antarctica

The ROU 04 General Artigas was fully re-engined last year in Uruguay

After departing from Montevideo on Jan. 16, Uruguayan Navy's logistics vessel ROU 04 “General Artigas” has arrived in Antarctica as part of the Antarkos 2022-2023 campaign to deliver supplies to the Artigas Scientific Base.

 The ship also transported some scientists, in addition to the fuel necessary to keep the base operational for a year, plus 16.8 tons of dry and frozen food, maintenance and construction items.

The General Artigas was fully re-engined last year with sea trials carried out on Nov. 7 and 8. Helping with the refurbishing was the German shipyard NVL Luerssen. The work was carried out at the Navy Dock - Cerro (SCRA), with the replacement of the old Maybach diesel engines with new CAT 3516c engines, at a cost of US$ 6.5 million.

With a displacement of 3,984 tons, the ROU Artigas is a logistic supply ship of the Lüneburg class. She joined the Uruguayan Navy in 2004. Launched in 1966, she served with the German Navy until 2003 under the name Freiburg (A 1413). Between 1981 and 1984, the unit was converted to perform logistic duties for frigates type 122. It is equipped with a deck to operate helicopters in vertrep maneuver, together with a hangar for light helicopters and new articulated cranes.

Meanwhile, the arrival in Ushuaia of the sloop ARA “Puerto Argentino” marked the end of the Argentine Navy's second stage of the XXIV Combined Naval Antarctic Patrol through which Argentina and Chile provide combined security to navigation and human life at sea since 1998 as per the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue of 1979. They also have the common duty to keep the waters free of contamination in the Antarctic area.

This second stage of the XXIV Combined Naval Antarctic Patrol began on Dec. 16, 2022. The ARA Puerto Argentino also “provided support to the activities of the Antarctic Summer Campaign 2022/23, transferring on several occasions scientists from the National Antarctic Directorate and military personnel to different Antarctic bases,” according to an Argentine Navy statement. The sloop will now remain in Tierra del Fuego as an Antarctic support vessel before resuming active patrolling on Feb. 27. (Source: www.zona-militar.com)