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Cruise companies urged not to cut off Falkland Islands
Cruise companies are being urged by the Foreign Office not to cut off the Falkland Islands following a protest in Argentina.
Raiders attacked a cruise agent’s office in Buenos Aires last week saying they would prevent cruise ships from berthing at Buenos Aires, Ushuaia and Puerto Madryn until the cruise liners cancelled its Falkland Islands leg.
Two cruise ships, Holland America Line’s MS Veendam and AIDA’s AIDA cara, cancelled scheduled stops on the Falklands, although Holland America Line claimed it was due to the weather.
One was due to stop on Friday and the other cancelled a stop planned in Port Stanley on December 3.
They were the first big cruise ships due to the islands this season.
A Foreign Office spokesman told the Daily Mail: "We are deeply concerned to learn that a cruise company has taken the decision to cancel a visit to the Falkland Islands following a violent act of intimidation against their shipping agents in Buenos Aires.
"We also hope that the travel companies will push back against Argentine pressure. We don’t want them to drop the Falkland Islands from their itinerary in cruises to Argentina.
"It is shameful that elements within a large country like Argentina should seek to strangle the economy of a small group of Islands. Such action benefits nobody and only condemns those who lend it support."
The FO is now pursuing action through the EU and the International Maritime Organisation, arguing that the attack interferes with the free passage of shipping and free trade.
It said: "The EU is responsible for external trade relations and we are not the only country to have had problems with Argentina acting against international norms – Spain has had problems too."
Earlier this year, a P&O ship, the Adonia, and the Carnival’s Star Princess liner were refused entry to Ushuaia on the southern island of Tierra del Fuego because they had visited the Falklands, see previous story.
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