Tierra del Fuego questioned the docking of a British oil tanker in Ushuaia

The Government of Tierra del Fuego objected to the docking of the VS Promise, a British-flagged oil tanker, at the Port of Ushuaia and requested that the national Executive provide details on the criteria that allowed its entry.

The provincial administration deemed it unacceptable for a United Kingdom vessel to operate in the Fuegian capital while the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands remains unresolved. The objection came after the national government justified the intervention of the port due to its strategic value and its link to defending Argentine interests in the South Atlantic.

Presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier stated that the VS Promise had loaded crude oil at the Cullen port basin, in northern Tierra del Fuego, and arrived in Ushuaia to resupply. He also said that the monobuoy falls under provincial jurisdiction and that, for this reason, the initial authorization for the entry corresponded to the Province.

Navy officials indicated that there were no obstacles to the docking because the tanker was not coming from the Malvinas Islands. They also noted that other British-flagged vessels already operate in Argentine ports.

The Fuegian government requested that the political, administrative and strategic grounds for the authorization be made public. It also questioned the application of the Gaucho Rivero Law, which restricts the entry of vessels linked to the exploration or exploitation of natural resources in the Malvinas Basin.

Finally, the Province reiterated its demand for the intervention of the Port of Ushuaia to end and for administration to return to Fuegian control. According to its position, there is a contradiction between invoking sovereignty reasons to intervene in the terminal and allowing decisions it considers incompatible with that policy.

With information from Energía Online.