The suggestion by Mr. Henry Young, in last weekend’s Amandala, for the new government to “have a look at Dangriga” as the site for constructing the Waterloo cruise port facility, highlights the strategic importance of Commerce Bight, the natural deep water port in its vicinity. His suggestion was informed by a study that was conducted on the coastal waters of Belize in 1902, which concluded that “a deep water port would not be viable north of the Sibun River.”
Notwithstanding the arguments that the developer-paid consultants advance in favor of constructing the cruise facility offshore Belize City, the dredging of 7.5 million cubic meters of sediment to deepen the channel could have serious negative environmental impacts on a sensitive marine ecosystem that is increasingly vulnerable to climate change. The increased likelihood of frequent violent hurricanes also increases the likelihood of more dredging to maintain the facility.
But then again, were it not for the vigilance of a deeply patriotic group of environmental organizations in Belize, investor-paid consultants would make offshore drilling and oil prospecting within Belize’s sensitive barrier reef ecosystem palatable for gullible leaders, just as was done when the Chalillo Dam was approved. Why, then, the insistence on the shallow waters north of the Sibun for a port? The following article that I wrote in the Amandala of Tuesday, October 22, 2013, expresses some insights:
Careful observations and analysis of development strategies that have been implemented by successive PUP and UDP administrations for southern Belize reveal a distinct underlying colonial legacy of discrimination that has persistently excluded Belizean Maya, Garifuna and black Creole residents from becoming integral players and substantial beneficiaries of the resources in their area.
Such deeply rooted biases are revealed through the dynamics of race and ethnicity, political and economic interests of the oligarchy, narrow city-centric view of national development, and the behavior of investors in relation to state actors and the people.
Consequently, despite the fact that southern Belize, and particularly the Stann Creek District, has the highest concentration of major industries (e.g. citrus, banana, aquaculture, tourism) within its small geographic area, the investments have shown a pattern of growth without real development, diversification without transformation, and impoverishment of native Belizeans of the south.
In both the Stann Creek and Toledo Districts there still remain decades-old harsh recurrent socioeconomic conditions: – high levels of poverty and unemployment, low per capita income, substandard quality of educational services and achievements, limited access to quality social services, brain drain, and vast neglect of youths. If it were not for remittances that many receive from relatives abroad, the situation would have been far worse.
Evidently, the substantial investments in these industries seemed to have only widened the disparities and further entrenched the inequities in patterns of ownership, income, labor relations, productive capacities and assets. This paradigm continues to lock a majority of the population of southern Belize into subservient roles.
Belizeans in the southern districts have persistently tried to grapple with the predicament of this economic paradigm and their cultural alienation. It is nothing to dance punta about. Neither can people afford, in their own frustrations, to turn against themselves while the oligarchs recycle power among their families and offspring.
There is no denying the fact that the natural deep water channel that runs close to the coast at Commerce Bight, three miles south of Dangriga, is Belize’s best strategic location for a deep sea port to accommodate large vessels, including cruise ships, and enhance maritime international trade for growth of the national economy.
The importance of this area as a natural deep water port was recognized as far back as the 1890s with the establishment and rapid growth of the banana industry in the Stann Creek District. The growing demand for bananas in North America stimulated expanding production. In 1906, the colonial government decided to build a railroad from Commerce Bight Pier to Middlesex, a distance of about 26 miles, as an incentive to attract the United Fruit Company, which had expressed an interest in expanding the industry.
By 1908, regular steam ships from abroad were discharging imported cargo on the pier and then loading with bananas and mail for export to New Orleans. In the 1920s, the first grapefruits were shipped from Commerce Bight to England and Canada. Lumber was also shipped to the U.S., Martinique, Guadalupe, Barbados and other Caribbean countries. Regular steam ships hailed from Jamaica. Over the century, Commerce Bight Pier has in various periods, served as a major trading hub for Belize.
Dollar for dollar in investments, the comparative advantage of Commerce Bight port relative to the port in Belize City is unmatched. As Master Marine Surveyor, and former Port Operations Manager, Major (Ret’d) H. Gilbert Swaso explained to me in an interview, the trestle at Commerce Bight, with its current length at 400 feet, is already at a water depth of 24 to 27 feet. The port in Belize City takes more than six times that length of trestle, about 2, 514 feet, to reach similar depth. Even after spending BZ$30 million to construct that length of trestle in Belize City to reach such minimal depth, an additional BZ$42million had to be spent to dredge an access channel 4,600 meters long to reach the pier head.
Similar investments would have to be made for periodic dredging in Belize City to keep the channel clear. Even with all this, King’s Wharf of the port at Belize City can accommodate only a limited size (up to 300 ft.) of vessels. Access to natural deep water from Belize City to accommodate larger vessels is about five miles offshore, where the cruise ships dock.
Comparatively, the port at Commerce Bight requires no dredging for docking or for channel access to deep water, thus saving millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on dredging in Belize City, while preserving the environment. It takes only a little over half a mile from Commerce Bight to access deeper waters of 45 feet to accommodate much larger vessels, compared to the five miles from Belize City.
Given the wake of the rise in cargo traffic at the Belize City port, a modernized port at Commerce Bight comes as a much-needed national requirement. Substantial economic and regional integration benefits can be accrued from increased trade.
Belize has not yet been able to realize the current global economies of scale due to the limitations of its Belize City port to accommodate the continuously growing size in ships. Given Belize’s unique geographic position, the deep sea port at Commerce Bight could play a major role as a hub for regional trade and as a gateway for trade to Peten and other areas of Guatemala’s interior, southern Mexico and on to rest of the world. Once a deep sea port is developed at Commerce Bight, shipping lines can deploy larger and deeper draft vessels and handle much greater volume, resulting in more efficient economic cost. Strategically located in the geographic center of Belize, the Commerce Bight port could provide expanded services to Belize’s exports and imports, as well as to the cruise tourism industry.
Other advantages of the Commerce Bight Port include: (i) enhanced competitiveness of Belize exports as prices of imported and export commodities decrease as a result of relatively lower shipping costs due to expanded volume; (ii) expanded trade and transshipment to serve regional areas as a hub; (iii) lower shipment costs by exporters due to the shorter travel distances and shipping time for their cargo, resulting in higher profitability for exporters and increased investments; (iv) decrease in general price levels as import costs decrease; (v) lower freight rates for container and general cargo due to the utilization of bigger cargo vessels and containers; and (vi) improved employment opportunities and income for local people (men as well as women) in port and cruise tourism-related activities as well as through the potential development of a new economic zone in the Commerce Bight area.
The other concern regarding the Waterloo project’s plan is the social and other environmental impacts of landing 2.5 million cruise visitors per year through their new facility, at an average of 20,570 visitors per day. This would be in addition to the number of visitors from the other two cruise port facilities, including Harvest Caye. Although the anticipated revenues from these visitors through the Waterloo project are estimated at US$500,000 to $750,000 per day, in addition to the provision of much-needed jobs and foreign exchange earnings to Belize, serious analysis and stringent cruise tourism policies must be made to mitigate the impacts of having three cruise ports in Belize.
In the meantime, Government’s re-acquisition of Commerce Bight port a few years ago has sparked some hope that the people of Stann Creek and southern Belize could finally play an integral role in planning and deriving substantial benefits from the tremendous opportunities that it could provide. Hopefully, this time, the deeply entrenched colonial, city-centric view of national development, and increasingly oligarchic political mindset that have sidelined southern Belize, will be transformed so that the people south of the Sibun, will rise out of the historically persistent constraints to their development. If not now, when?