It met a critical US$9 million bullet payment to the International Bank of Miami on Friday and now the Port of Belize Limited wants the Government of Belize to enforce a monopoly on all shipments into Belize. That's right, the Port of Belize is demanding that all shipments into Belize must pass through it, as the sovereign port.
The conflict is with the privately owned Big Creek Port in Independence which has a license to operate just as the Port of Belize does. That license was given to it in 2002 by then Minister and Area Representative Henry Canton. Since then, Big Creek has been competing against the Port of Belize and now the Port of Belize, with major shareholding from Michael Ashcroft, is demanding that government use taxpayers money to pay it for business lost to Big Creek.
7NEWS is reliably informed that the claim is between $5 and $7 million for business lost. It's left to be seen how government will respond and whether and how it will, first, honor that claim, and second whether it will or can force Big Creek to desist from competing against the Port of Belize.
As we reported on Friday, Port of Belize owner Luke Espat met that $9 million bullet payment reportedly with financing from one of Michael Ashcroft's interests while Espat, if only nominally, remains the owner of the Port.
