A crew of 310 people made up of military and scientific personnel aboard the icebreaker ARA “Almirante Irízar” received this Wednesday the order to set sail for Argentine Antarctica to formally begin the 119th Summer Antarctic Campaign (CAV) 2022-2023 that will supply the bases of the white continent until April 2023.
“It is a very important, scientific, logistical and sovereignty-affirming campaign”, said the Minister of Defense, Jorge Taiana, at the head of the act that took place at the Naval Station in the city of Buenos Aires, where he was accompanied by his peers from Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmus; and Health, Carla Vizzotti.
“This is the formal start of the Summer Antarctic Campaign, there are already preparations and people who are there, but the departure of the Irízar is the moment where everything starts. The ship leaves with 310 people, three multidisciplinary laboratories thanks to the generosity of the Ministry of Science, we are going to continue building Petrel”Taiana detailed.
He also indicated that “we are working on the environmental presentation to the Antarctic Treaty; we are going to work on placing the antennas that will be in Belgrano II, our southernmost base, and through which the CONAE satellites that will go to give a lot of information.”
Taiana pointed out that one of the objectives of the campaign will also be to continue with the Plan for the Evacuation of Classified Antarctic Waste.
The head of the Defense portfolio also highlighted the “great” contribution of the Ministry of Health for equipment in Antarctica, “an isolated and hostile place.”
In this sense, he assured that “there is a very important advance for all the well-being of the personnel of the Antarctic bases” with the Remediar boxes, dental chairs and the possibility of surgeries, at the same time that he highlighted, on gender issues, that for the first time there will be a head and deputy head of the base.
Meanwhile, Minister Filmus told Télam that this campaign has special connotations due to the construction of three laboratories and two shelters.
“A little over a month ago we were seven ministries, 17 science and technology organizations gathered in Antarctica expressing the vocation of scientific research and development, because they are interdisciplinary issues that have to do with Argentine interests, but also with a feeling that has the humanity regarding the need to preserve the Antarctic territory and give it sustainability”, he stressed.
As for the antennas at the southernmost base, Belgrano II, stressed that Argentina “will be the only country in the world receiving satellite images from our own satellites.”
“The important thing is that science reaffirms sovereignty”, concluded Filmus who also valued the “enormous” effort of the Ministry of Defense for this purpose.
For her part, Minister Vizzotti highlighted that the officials conveyed pride, admiration and gratitude to the crew members for “make homeland and create sovereignty”.
“We will always be accompanying from the State”reaffirmed the Minister of Health before the crew of the icebreaker ARA “Almirante Irízar” enlisted to undertake this new mission coordinated by the Joint Antarctic Command (Cocoantar) under the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces.
About the Irízar
The journey of the icebreaker ARA “Almirante Irizar” is divided into three stages that will allow the provisioning and relief of endowments of all the bases that Argentina maintains operational: seven permanent ones (Esperanza, Marambio, San Martín, Orcadas, Carlini, Belgrano II and Petrel ); and six transitory, that is, active only during the summer period (Matienzo, Brown, Deception, Primavera, Cámara and Melchior), specified from Defense.
During the first instance, they will supply the Orcadas and Belgrano II bases, the third permanent in the world, they added.
The captain of the icebreaker Irízar, Carlos Recio, told Télam: “We will be setting sail between Friday and Saturday depending on the weather conditions. We are finalizing the last cargo and food shipments.”
In this regard, he stressed that “we are the ones who allow Argentina to be a bicontinental country since we operate both in the American continent and in Argentine Antarctica.”
The Irízar was built in 1978 in Finland and has a 12-story building, seven stories above the water and five below. “Today it is the only icebreaker with cargo capacity in the world,” Recio said.
“Sailing on ice is very particular -explained- because it is a frozen sea in which we have to break ice, that is very demanding for the material and the personnel, we prepare to be in the best conditions”.
Father Francisco Roverano, present at the event, will be “the first priest after many years to spend the winter at Base Esperanza with the families,” he assured.
“It is the first time that I embark on a Navy ship,” added Roverano together with the military Bishop Monsignor Santiago Olivera, who also prayed and blessed during the ceremony.
The idea of boarding the priest aims to “spiritually accompany” those who live there. “At the Esperanza base there are children who are going to take their first communion,” the priest concluded.
Relatives of the crew members said goodbye, while their loved ones were already swabbed and isolated, witnessing the act from the boat, standing near the railings.
The Antarctic Summer Campaign will last a total of 120 days, with the mission of giving “support to scientific activity in accordance with the Antarctic Annual Plan”. The main axes of the boat are “sovereignty, development of scientific activity, international cooperation, and care for the environment.”
On the icebreaker, 3,400,000 liters of fuel were shipped and the total personnel deployed for the CAV was 1,205 people, including scientists and crews.
During the event, Minister Taiana also inaugurated a specific reading space on the “Malvinas Question” within the Irizar library, within the framework of the provisions of resolution No. 1334, of the portfolio that he directs that promotes the creation of reading spaces with the aim of “promoting and disseminating the 40-year Malvinas Agenda”.
The campaign also has other naval and air means that will leave. Among them, Transporte ARA “Canal Beagle”, Aviso Polar ARA “Estrecho San Carlos” and Hércules C-130.
The end of the Antarctic Summer Campaign will be in April 2023.
