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The British Military supply vessel, the Anvil Point is still docked in the waters of the coast of Belize City and the Supreme Court injunction still stands barring it from offloading anywhere in Belize other than the Port of Belize. As we reported last night, the Anvil Point arrived in Belize on Monday night with supplies for BATSUB. Their cargo agent Caribbean Shipping had requested permission to offload at Port’s Low Berth Pier – where they would bring their own British-approved personnel to offload the vessel.

But Caribbean Shipping thought that the rates being charged by the private port were exorbitant and took its case to the Commissioner of Ports John Flowers. Seeing that it was not commercial cargo, and that it was a request from the British Government, Flowers permitted the Harbor Master to have the vessel offloaded at Old Belize. Much of that was done on Tuesday but on Wednesday morning the Port of Belize got an injunction preventing the vessel from offloading anything else.

The Port’s argument is that no authority – not the Commissioner’s, nor the Minister of Transport’s can bypass the sovereign rights of the Port of Belize. Sounds like a high horse, but the court agreed to issue an injunction upholding that position for the time being. So now, things are at a standstill. The British military vessel is anchored off Old Belize, BATSUB is waiting for its cargo while the private port, the public authority and the shipping agent trash it out.

Transport Minister Melvin Hulse today told us that he authorized the offloading at Old Belize based on a government to government request for non commercial cargo. He said that under the law, he has discretionary rights to designate any place for the unloading to be done – and he noted that he was not included in the injunction.

But it may not have to come to that. There is some hope of a resolution tonight. We have confirmed that this afternoon representatives of BATSUB went to the Port of Belize to meet with the company’s executive management. Chairman of the Board Luke Espat said he was optimistic about the meeting because the shipping agent – who he blames for causing things to come to a head – did not participate in the meeting. It is foreseeable that the Port of Belize will make its own arrangement with BATSUB – which may have been the game plan from the outset.