Tanker Call at Ushuaia Draws Provincial Protest Over Falklands Law
Isle of Man registry puts VS Promise outside the 2011 ban the governor invoked
The provincial government of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina's southernmost region, has used the arrival of a tanker it labelled British as the latest move in its fight for control of the Port of Ushuaia. The federal government seized control of the port in January, and it remains a contested political issue between the governor, an opponent of President Javier Milei, and the national administration.
Governor Gustavo Melella issued a statement condemning and rejecting the arrival of the tanker VS Promise, of 69,994 dwt, calling the call unacceptable. He highlighted that the province also claims rights to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which it asserts are illegally occupied by Britain. Local reports note that a war memorial to the 649 Argentines who died in the 1982 conflict stands not far from where the tanker was docked.
The province has had a law since 2011 banning the presence, mooring and resupply of British-flagged ships in its ports, and neighbouring provinces have adopted similar legislation.
The registry does not fit the claim. VS Promise, built in 2007, is a crude oil tanker owned and registered by a company in the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom but a self-governing Crown Dependency with its own government, and the ship's home port is Douglas. The distinction is a familiar one in flag state terms and was either not understood or set aside.
Melella's argument is directed at the federal government rather than the ship. He accuses the national administration of hypocrisy, having invoked Ushuaia's strategic status and the need to safeguard sovereignty in the South Atlantic when it took control of the port in January. "The national government attempted to justify the intervention in the Port of Ushuaia by invoking its strategic status and the need to safeguard national sovereignty and interests in the South Atlantic. Today, events have laid bare the contradiction between that argument and the actions the national government has taken since removing the provincial authorities," the statement asserts, demanding restoration of provincial administration of the port.
In January the federal government suspended the port authority and placed Ushuaia under a trustee for 12 months, with President Milei citing alleged misappropriation of money alongside infrastructure and operational problems. The federal port authority pointed to a lack of concrete responses from provincial authorities, workers' complaints and concerns raised by shipping companies. The VS Promise has since departed without further consequence and is heading to the Rio Cullen oil terminal, operated by TotalEnergies.
