Punta Arenas, the extreme south of Chile will be hosting Silversea Cruises as its base of operations, having decided to abandon Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego. Silversea announced a release in which it makes official its Antarctic cruise operations during the 2021/22 season, following an agreement with Chilean officials.
It's official, Argentina announced the opening of the 2021/2022 bi-oceanic and Antarctic cruise season next 20 October. The administrative resolution 834/2021 was published in the Official Gazette, triggering immediate satisfaction from Tierra del Fuego province whose governor contacted the Tourism and Sports minister Matías Lammens.
The Argentine congress is restless and is concerned since the Falkland Islands started to build its new deep water port, fearing, besides the usual cacophony of claims, that the Islands could replace Ushuaia as the main access to Antarctica.
It's winter holidays in Argentina and the season is working out to be far better than expected for Ushuaia in the extreme south of the country, with August expectations also on the bright side.
Argentine president Alberto Fernandez announced the construction of an Antarctica Logistic Pole in Ushuaia, which will demand an investment of some US$ 300 million, a long time aspiration of Argentine armed forces to mark or match a strong presence in the extreme south of the continent and in Antarctica.
The Town Hall of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province, extreme south of Argentina, together with the local branch of Malvinas war Veterans opened this week an exhibition under the title of “Architecture and Planning in Malvinas, 1764/1833” dedicated to the people that lived in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands during that period of time.
During the first half of the year, (Jan/Jun), 29,500 tons of fish products were landed at the port of Ushuaia which represents 53% over the same period a year (19,250 tons), according to the latest stats from Argentina's Fisheries Under Secretariat. Officials from Tierra del Fuego point out that much can be attributed to the fact that April 2020 was a “completely dead month”, because of the pandemic.
Ushuaia officials and Malvinas war veterans have been meeting to start preparing the agenda of commemorations for the fortieth anniversary of the South Atlantic conflict next year.
As long as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to recede and there are no further new strain surprises, this coming 2021/22 season, the port of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego province is scheduled to receive some 68 tourism vessels and 488 calls.
Monday mid-afternoon Argentine air force fighter planes overflew Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego province capital and the Beagle Channel, as part of training exercises in Patagonia and which are expected to continue for the next two days. The Fighting Hawk McDonald Douglas A-4R jets are based in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz province.