Mission
To offer professional, courteous and effective services to the maritime community in Belize, with the main focus on safety and security of shipping operations and the protection of the marine environment; and to engage our stakeholders in the development of Belize’s maritime industry.
Vision
To develop a cadre of competent officers to carry out the legal mandate of the organisation.To be proactive in identifying and incorporating appropriate technology. To respond in a timely and appropriate fashion to changes in the national, regional and international maritime industry to aid economic development and enforcement.
The Authority's Overview
The Belize Port Authority (BPA) is a statutory body established in 1980 and currently falls under the portfolio of the Ministry Public Utilities, Energy & Logistics. The Authority is administered by a Board of Directors.
The Ports Commissioner is responsible for the daily administration and operations of the Authority. The Authority has a staff complement of sixty six (66) personnel as a result of our deliberate efforts to build capacity in key areas to better serve the maritime community.
Its main headquarters is in Belize City. There are five (05) established marine offices in Belize City, San Pedro, Big Creek, Punta Gorda and Placencia with services available 24 hours.
The Authority is the principal Maritime Agency with responsibility to regulate and develop Belize’s Ports, Harbours & Shipping and is further responsible for the safety of all vessels navigating within the territorial waters of Belize. As a part of the enforcement efforts, regular enforcement patrols of the inland waterways, coastal and offshore areas are conducted by the marine officers to ensure safe boating and compliance with BPA’s Laws and Regulations. The Authority also clears all foreign vessels and conducts regular inspections for compliance with domestic and international laws.
Quarterly inspections are conducted at the various port facilities to ensure that the ports are safe, operational and are in compliance with the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code of the International Maritime Organization.
Mariners are encouraged to practice safe boating and be familiar with all Laws and Regulations!
Help us to better serve you by reporting incidents of:
- Speeding in no wake zones
- Sabotage to navigational lights in the harbour
- Navigational lights that are not working
- Boating violations
- Overloading of vessels
Kindly report accident/incident by emailing vto@portauthority.bz or
by calling our emergency hotline number listed below.
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National Maritime Communication Center:
Toll Free Emergency Number: 966
Duties and Responsibilities of the Authority
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To operate the port to best serve the public interest;
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to regulate and control navigation within the limits of national waterways, harbours, ports and their approaches;
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to maintain, improve, and regulate the use of port facilities and services as necessary;
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to provide for ports and their approaches, pilotage services, beacons, buoys and other navigational services and aids as required;
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to exercise the duties and functions relating to shipping and navigation exercisable under the provisions of any other law