Tonight a number of local importers are at the pinnacle of frustration because a Ship full of their Christmas cargo has been broken down at Sea about five miles from the Port of Belize City for over a week. The problem is they can't get their containers off the vessel - and many of them contain Christmas stock. We have confirmed that the Vessel named "ConeEast" is carrying about 90 containers which are destined for Belize. According to information from the internet, the vessel has a deadweight of almost nine thousand tonnes and the port does not have a tug that can haul it in.

As we understand it, the ConEast had engine problems coming into the Channel into Belize. The shipping agent today told us that part has been stuck in US Cusotms and is expected to be cleared tomorrow, so he expects that by Thursday it will be repaired.

And though we are told the engine does work of and on, the steering is unreliable and it cannot try to approach the pier at the port as there are justified fears that the ship could hit the pier and cause it to collapse. The agent today told us that the size of the vessel does not make it practical to offload it by barge�.

Channel 7