The Falklands currently rely principally on Montevideo for their regular maritime connection with South America, involving a voyage of almost 2,000 km. Punta Arenas is roughly half that distance.   Potential cargoes include food, fruit and vegetables, wine, construction materials, LPG and spare parts, with backhaul opportunities including scrap metal.   A Falklands business delegation is due in Punta Arenas later this month as the two sides work to expand commercial ties.   The new route is politically sensitive. Argentina claims sovereignty over the British-administered islands, which it calls the Malvinas, and objects to economic activity there without Buenos Aires’ approval. The two countries went to war over control of the islands in 1982. The shipping development comes during a sharp escalation in Argentine rhetoric.      President Javier Milei used a national address on Thursday (3 Sep) night to announce tougher sanctions against companies involved in the Sea Lion offshore oil development around the islands and additional defence spending for a new naval base in Tierra del Fuego.  Milei declared that the islands are Argentine “by history and by right” and rejected the islanders’ claim to self-determination.