Fuel shortages due to the Middle East crisis have delayed by several weeks an annual mission to swap out researchers at South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island base, the government said Saturday, reports AFP.

The SA Agulhas II icebreaking polar supply vessel was meant to have left Cape Town last month to relieve a team based there since April 2025, the environment ministry said.

But it only received a shipment of specialised polar diesel required for Antarctic and sub-Antarctic operations on May 1, a statement read.

“The delay is primarily due to the global scarcity of fuel products linked to ongoing geopolitical developments in the Middle East,” it added.

The base on the island, about 1,920 kilometres southeast of Cape Town, had enough polar diesel reserves until about May 20 and food supplies for about two months.