Tonight, that continues to be a subject of bitter dispute. The private Port of Belize Limited is pushing government to enforce its monopoly on all general cargo shipments into Belize. By the reasoning of the Port of Belize Limited, the Big Creek Port in Independence should be stopped from importing all general cargo, and be made to import only bananas. But Big Creek has a full license, identical to the one at the Port of Belize which was granted to it in 2002 by then Minister of Ports Henry Canton.
That matter of fact now puts government at odds with its past Minister, as it is now under pressure from both Port owner Luke Espat and his financier Michael Ashcroft to shut down general cargo operations at Big Creek and void Canton's license. Though no one would speak to us on record, senior government representatives have hinted that Canton acted unilaterally and against government interests when he gave Big Creek the license.
But what does Canton have to say? Well today he gave 7NEWS
a telephone interview in which he stressed that he had no secret deals, and none of this is his fault. Canton explained that as Minister of Ports at the time, he did not oversee the privatization of Belize Ports Limited and in fact opposed the asset sale of the Ports. Also he insisted that as part of the privatization, the Commerce Bight Port be leased with a development plan so that the south not be neglected.
But most importantly, Canton said that it was his public position in Cabinet that the Belize Port should not have a monopoly because it would force freight prices upwards. And because he opposed the monopoly, he acted deliberately to make sure that didn't happen by licensing the Big Creek Port which had already been operating as a general cargo port for 3 years with government's consent. He said the license he gave was reviewed by government's legal experts at the time and has since had its legality upheld by the Attorney General's Office.
So while Canton clears himself out of the mess, that doesn't do much to help government which has to face an Ashcroft backed $5 million claim from the Port of Belize for loss of business to Big Creek. With pressure from Ashcroft, government will now have to try and somehow enforce that monopoly, even if it is illusory. But 7NEWS has received credible reports which tells us that it does so against the considered advice of the board of the Belize Ports Authority which is the industry regulator. According to our information, earlier this month, the board advised government that it supported the Big Creek license, thereby opposing the monopoly.
