Improvements Coming to the Ports of Belize  

Today, members of the Belize Port Authority and various stakeholders came together to review the latest data on Belize’s Port Industry. With this information in hand, the Belize Port Authority aims to collaborate with stakeholders to make improvements to the ports. News Five’s Britney Gordon was there for the presentation of these findings. Here’s the story.

 

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Last year, the Belize Port Authority sought consultants to conduct an economic and social impact study on the country’s ports. Now, over a year later, representatives and stakeholders have come together to discuss the study’s findings. We caught up with Kaylon Young, the Acting Port Commissioner, at the Belize Port Authority, to get more details on what they discovered.

 

Kaylon Young, Acting Post Commissioner

“Some of the key findings was that for one Belize does, the port does have a great impact on the economy first and foremost. But we can do better. There is room for improvement in terms of infrastructure at the ports, in terms of digitalization, in terms of efficiency. So how we could increase the efficiency of the ports, increase the infrastructure at the ports, to have a greater impact on our economy and the social being of Belizeans.”

 

The study highlighted that for Belize’s ports to stay competitive, they need to adapt to advancing technology. Ships are getting bigger and harder to handle, and without expanding, Belize’s port industry risks falling behind.

 

Kaylon Young,

“So if we want to keep up with the times, keep up with the changing the infrastructure, keep up with the happenings in the maritime sector, we have to do some improvements, improve efficiency, improve in digitalization, and see how we can ensure that. As time changes we’re keeping up and we’re assisting in doing our part in building our economy and helping the communities.”

 

With the data now in hand, the Belize Port Authority will determine what recommendations can be made to enhance the port. Eduardo Lugo, CEO of Maritime and Logistics Consulting Group, which conducted the study, explained that their initial proposal focused on three main deliverables: evaluating Belize’s existing ports, conducting an economic and social impact assessment, and assessing the Belize Port Authority itself.

 

Eduardo Lugo, CEO, Maritime & Logistics Consulting Group

“We met with them and the position of the people working in the Belize Port Authority and the output of that study was what needs to be done to capture more value of the port sector in Belize. And how the Belize Port Authority, what measure do they need to take to improve their performance and to improve the port sector.”

 

The economic impact assessment was broken down into two models: cargo and cruise. Lugo explains the decision to separate them.

 

Eduardo Lugo

“In cargo, you have agricultural, for example. If you increase agriculture, then that impacts directly.  In the port because of the export of agricultural products. But in the case of tourism, people fly from other countries to Belize. So they pay for airline tickets. They arrive in Belize. They pay taxis or they rent cars. They pay for hotels. They pay, they go to restaurants, for example. So it’s a different activity that needs to be measured in a different way. So that is the reason for making two separate studies or two separate models for that study.”

 

Lugo felt it necessary that cruise tourism be appropriately evaluated because of the extensive contributions it has to Belize’s economy.

 

Eduardo Lugo

“The cruise activity, the cruise tourism has an economic impact of close to fpur point two percent of GDP in Belize. And the economic impact is one point three.  For every dollar that, that the port receives, There are thirty additional cents in the economy due to cruise tourism.”

 

Britney Gordon for News Five.