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And while the congestion problems in the Belize Harbor look to have been resolved les than flawlessly, the Port Authority has to put on its best face because it’s hosting a regional meeting this week. Thirty representatives from various port states in the Caribbean are holding their thirteenth annual gathering in Belize. The highlight of the four day event will be the acceptance of Belize as a full member of the Caribbean Port State Control Committee. And why is that big news? Well it now means that Belize which was only considered as an observer port state will now be able to contribute to the decision making process.

Ivor English, Chairman - Caribbean Port State Control Com
“We sent a fact finding mission to Belize in February and from the report that I received we are convinced that Belize has reached the required standards hence they could discharge those functions with the requisite standards that we’ve set. For example you have to be compliant in international maritime conventions, your administration must reflect certain level of competence in order for you to be endorsed as a full member, and part of that involves having inspectors who can go out on boat ships and make the requisite inspections because our ultimate goal is to rid the Caribbean of substandard ships.

There will be greater credibility in terms of Belize carrying out port state inspections and then Belize could benefit from assistance within the region, technical cooperation with the region. And outside of the region there is a harmonized system where we share information among the territories.”

Major Lloyd Jones,
“Firstly it means that we get to help to steer what is called the community of the Caribbean MOU and secondly it provides us with training opportunities and with technical funding. A lot of the donor countries as of late prefer to channel their funding through MOUS. MOUS basically are regional groupings that seek to standardize port state inspections and so the donors would funnel their technical cooperation through those MOUS and then the MOUS, recognizing the needs of the various member states then distribute that technical cooperation funding.”