AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News Royal Caribbean Chooses Port of Magical Belize, Signs Commitment

There's big news coming out of the cruise tourism industry tonight - even bigger than last night's bombshell that NEAC has rejected the Waterloo EIA proposal.

7News has confirmed that one of "The Big Three" cruise lines, the Royal Caribbean Group has signed up as a partner with the Port of Magical Belize. In the race to decide which port will control the cruise future of Belize - a bonafide, signed commitment from one of "The Big Three" is seen as the gold standard - and by proof of this letter which 7News has obtained from government sources - Port of Magical has positioned itself as the frontrunner.

The letter dated November 21st and signed by Royal's VP of Destination Development says, quote, "Royal Caribbean - abbreviated as "RCG" - has decided to back and partner with Portico Enterprises Ltd and Boskalis International on the Port of Magical Belize...(which) has proven to encompass the adequate environmental and operational criteria required for RCG development involvement and investment…." End quote.

It's of important note that Royal Caribbean currently owns 49% of the Fort Street Tourism Village and the letter adds, quote, "RCG commits that Magical Belize will be the exclusive development project and port of entry for RCG amongst Waterloo and Port Coral. RCG will offer no support to these competing developments. RCG must honor its current fiduciary responsibility to FSTV and at such time that the concession is no longer valid or FSTV is no longer a port of entry, all RCG ships will transition to Magical Belize."

So, there it is - a concrete development whose significance cannot be overstated in Belize's uncertain cruise future. The letter also notes that the ships Royal Caribbean will be sending to Belize are Oasis and Icon class, massive vessels which cannot tender at the current FSTV. Under this arrangement, they would be berthing directly at the Port of Magical Belize.

It's a coup for Portico's developers - who were seen for a long time as the least likely to emerge in the race between Port Coral, Waterloo and the Port of Magical Belize. But quietly, lead developer David Gegg has navigated between two governments, first getting an MOU from the UDP in 2017, and then an EIA approved under the PUP in 2021. Little known is that the project also got a "Definitive Agreement" under the UDP, signed one month before the election in October of 2020.

So, what's next? Well, a Memorandum of Understanding now has to be signed with Royal Caribbean and its new partners. The project, in the southern Belize District near Northern Lagoon will cost an estimated 355 million US dollars, and is slated for completion at the end of 2025. Developers say it will create five thousand jobs.

As we said at the top, this radically changes the state of play in the cruise sector, where the race to be the chosen cruise port has been intense. But even with Waterloo getting a firm NO from NEAC, and Port of Magical now getting a signed commitment from a major cruise line, we'd say the fight for cruise supremacy still has a long way to go in the courts and in the corridors of power.

Channel 7

Portico Will Dredge 8.5 Million Cubic Metres, More Than Waterloo

And tonight, we're also taking a snapshot look at the Environmental Compliance Plan for the Port of Magical Belize. The proposed cruise terminal is planned for 6 kilometers south of the Sibun River, that's about 8 miles south of Belize City.

The developers will build a peninsula along the coastline, which requires some heavy dredging. The development is planned to include a 300 room hotel with beaches and related facilities.

The development will also include a roadway and a bridge spanning the Sibun River which will run parallel to the coastline connecting the project site to the George Price Highway in the vicinity of Old Belize.

How much dredging will be required for all that? We looked in the environmental compliance plan to find out:

The Environmental Compliance Plan for PORTICO acknowledges that it must have a "detailed engineering design of the peninsula, minimizing the potential negative impacts from current flows south wards and manatee movements along the seashore;"

So in phase one they must submit a " a Manatee Management Plan; and, a Rapid Ecological Assessment for the access road dewater site.

And how long will the road be? Well that is Phase 2 "Construction of an all weather road within crown lands (including a bridge) measuring 10.5km (6.5mi) connecting the project site to the George Price Highway,". So that's a 6 mile road over a wetland.

Phase 3 and 4 call for dredging of 8.5 million cubic meters, first from the turning basin and access channel, and second for filling of the peninsula and retreat island. That - we might note - is more than the 7.5 million cubic meters that was rejected for Waterloo.

Phase four also calls for the construction of beaches which will comprise approximately 37 acres of the peninsula's surface. In Phase 5 there will be 40 over-water beach bungalows;

The EIA was approved on the 9th day of April, 2021

Again, that is just a very small snapshot of a 30 page, highly technical document. We'll be looking more closely at it in the days to come.

Channel 7

A Look At The Third Definitive Agreement

Well, two agreements that don't have to be considered or reviewed are the two Definitive Agreements approved by the UDP Cabinet in 2014 and 2017. That's the Harvest Caye Agreement and the Stake Bank Agreement. Those Definitive Agreements have never been made public before - but in all the recent uproar - we've gotten our hands on both. They are now important because Prime Minister Briceno has stated that the excessive Portico agreement has to be walked back to meet the far more conservative and rational terms of those agreements. A few nights ago, we showed you the Harvest Caye Agreement, tonight, here's the Stake Bank Agreement:

The Stake Bank Definitive Agreement was signed in August of 2017, at a public event with no less than three ministers in attendance:

(August 25, 2017)
Hon. Mike Peyrefitte, Former UDP AG
"This is a definitive agreement we call it. Within that agreement for example, you would find that there is the act as amended, because remember when the original act was passed it was pass giving Stakebank exclusivity and so I think this definitive agreement has ask Stakebank to agree that in the future the act will be amended to take out that exclusivity."

Indeed, exclusivity is not a part of the agreement - unlike Portico's definitive Agreement which bans any other cruise port within a 25 mile radius - which effectively cuts off three cruise ports including the currently operational FSTV.

In this 2017 document there are no lavish fiscal incentives or wholesale tax giveaways, just the standard duty exemption during the construction phase.

The other features of the documents are very basic - and nowhere near the wholesale giveaways or the Portico agreement.

For example, it does not grant exemption from all currency exchange control laws.

And, unlike Portico's one, it does not provide access to government "land (including seabed) for an access road, utilities, and dredge material disposal;"

Portico's Definitive Agreement is also considerably lengthier and more detailed, especially clauses that details Government's obligations and concessions.

Not so for this Stake Bank Definitive Agreement which is about half the length of Portico's one.

So is the Portico agreement actively being renegotiated to meet those or comparable standards? We don't know.

Of note is that a House meeting has been scheduled for next week Friday.

Channel 7