A mechanical issue onboard a Swan Hellenic vessel led to the difficult decision to abandon Antarctica on a cruise whose very point was to visit Antarctica. When full refunds were not offered, hunger strikes began onboard, according to abundant cruise industry media.
Argentina's Coast Guard (Prefectura Naval Argentina - PNA) alerted all sailing ships this week of three icebergs near Ushuaia and advised them to avoid all unnecessary approaching these ice floes, of which only 10% is visible on the surface. The first detection was reported last Saturday by the Argentine-flagged fishing vessel Echizen Maru and the latest spotting came through on Monday at the Beagle Channel exit into the open sea.
With the cruise 2023/24 season technically over in Tierra del Fuego, the head of provincial ports, Roberto Murcia said it had been a very positive year and anticipated an even more promising season 2024/25 for Ushuaia with more vessels interested in the Antarctica tours.
Mayor Claudio Radonich of the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas insisted this week that his country had “deantarticulated” over the past 30 years and urged the political leadership to be much more “intense” in matters concerning Antarctica given Argentine President Javier Milei's recent actions regarding the area when a United States base in Ushuaia was announced during US Southern Command Chief General Laura Richardson's visit.
Argentine President Javier Milei made a snap trip to Ushuaia late Thursday to meet US Southern Command Chief General Laura Richardson after Governor Gustavo Melella refused to welcome her and insisted she was “persona non grata.”
The history section of daily “Diario del Fin del Mundo”, edited in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province, extreme south of Argentina, recalls that almost a century and a half ago, more precisely December 1881, the Falkland Islands Company, FIC, “at the time with total control over the Falklands economy”, approached the Argentine government offering to buy the total of Peninsula Valdes, Chubut province and an area in Tierra del Fuego next to San Sebastian Bay, and its surrounding 160 leguas (league) for the rearing of sheep.
Tierra del Fuego National Senator Matías Rodríguez was found dead in his home in Ushuaia on Wednesday under circumstances that have yet to be determined but suggest a suicide, it was reported.
With the arrival of the Magellan Explorer, Ushuaia officially announced the beginning of the 2023/2024 cruise season which is expected to attract 548 vessel calls and some 195,000 visitors to the most southern port of Argentina in Tierra del Fuego province.
The port of Ushuaia will be receiving an additional 2,5 million dollars (in Argentine Pesos) to continue the expansion and updating of the terminal in the extreme southern province of Tierra del Fuego. The announcement followed a meeting of the provincial governor, recently re-elected Gustavo Melella, and Deputy Secretary Patricio Hogan, from the federal government Ports, Watercourse ways and Merchant Navy Office.
Argentine province Tierra del Fuego authorities have said that 2022/23, has been an excellent cruise season with a record 503 calls and a turnover of some 220,000 people between passengers and crew members. Expectations for the next season are even better with at least 591 calls anticipated.