MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile tells Argentina “countries do not ask permission” for its ship bound for the Falklands

The Chilean-flagged Danstar aims to restore a route suspended for some 15 years, carrying food, machinery and building materials as an alternative to supplies from Montevideo

Chile’s Foreign Minister Francisco Pérez Mackenna has ruled out asking Argentina for authorisation for the voyage of the Chilean vessel Danstar, which plans to reopen the commercial route between Punta Arenas and the Falklands in December, invoking the right of innocent passage recognised by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. “Countries do not ask permission,” he said, according to Argentina’s La Nación.

“Chile believes in the right to free navigation, which is guaranteed, the right of free passage, innocent passage, as it is called in UNCLOS maritime law. And we trust that right will be respected,” Pérez Mackenna said. He was responding to his Argentine counterpart, Pablo Quirno, who said on Monday on the A24 channel that the vessel must request permission to cross Argentine jurisdictional waters. “Thousands of ships pass through the Strait of Magellan every year. There are thousands of ships that ask for authorisation to cross when they leave for the Malvinas,” Quirno said. Since 2010, Argentina has required by decree prior authorisation for ships sailing between the mainland and the islands or crossing Argentine waters towards them.

The Danstar, a 72-metre Chilean-flagged cargo ship operated by Easter Island shipping company, aims to restore a route suspended for some 15 years with a cargo of food, machinery and construction materials, as an alternative to the supplies that arrive regularly from Montevideo. The private-sector initiative is promoted by the Falkland Islands Development Corporation and backed by Punta Arenas. “We want to be the islands’ big supermarket,” said its mayor, Claudio Radonich.

The Argentine government fears the route could provide logistical support to the Sea Lion oil project. Quirno recalled “the Chilean government’s commitment that this will not contribute logistically to the exploitation of natural resources” in the islands. According to La Nación, Chilean diplomats privately expressed “indignation” that Argentina has tolerated regular trade between the islands and Uruguay for years but concentrates its pressure on Chilean vessels. Argentina’s Foreign Ministry denies seeking to provoke an incident.

The exchange comes during a key week in the dispute over the islands. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will announce on November 28 its decision on Argentina’s request to halt Sea Lion, after the hearings in Hamburg, and Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies is debating the sovereignty defence bill, which toughens sanctions on companies linked to resource exploitation in the archipelago. In October, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham raised with Chilean President José Antonio Kast London’s interest in the islanders’ right to self-determination.