Locally referred to as the ‘sugar boat’, and quite a spectacle when it passes the New River Banks, on Sunday night around 11:30, a Belize Sugar Industry barge transporting sugar to Belize City experienced some difficulty and sunk. It’s not a frequent occurrence and so we got curious of the situation when pictures started popping up on social media. We contacted Damian Gough, Manager of Marketing and Export Operations who says that it’s a risk associated with methods of transport to move sugar from factory to ship.

Damian Gough – Export Operations Manager

“We were made aware sometime seven o’clock that the barge was leaking unfortunately this is one of the risks associated with the method of transportation that we have to move sugar from the factory to Belize City for loading into the ship and in the risks is that it is exposed to this same of sort of incident happening, we still haven’t yet determined the cause of the barge sinking but it is likely that it is as a result due to a puncture or a hole or something but we won’t be able to determine that until get the barge floating and back to the repair dock for it to be dry dock and then we do an inspection of it but it is but you can track it down to the risk of the business associated by moving the sugar by this means but this is for now the only means that we have to move the sugar but I can confirm that yes indeed the barge sank and.”

Maria Novelo – Reporter

“Where was it headed to?”

Damian Gough – Export Operations Manager

“It was heading to Belize City for loading onboard a ship that is here and it happened just of Sarteneja between the Warree Bigth and Sarteneja but we were able to get the barge back to an area which is referred to hour point which is almost in front of the Cerros areas before it completely sank.”

Maria Novelo – Reporter

“And it is just sugar in there right?”

Damian Gough – Export Operations Manager

“Just sugar and the barge only takes about 120 to 125 tons so that is just about that is the extend that I can say for it right now.”

Gough says there was a complete loss of the barge’s contents, approximately 120-125 tons of sugar.

CTV3

A Hundred and Twenty-five Tons of Sugar Lost At Sea

On Sunday, a barge belonging to Belize Sugar Industries capsized off the coast of Corozal.  Sinking along with the faulty vessel was almost a hundred and twenty-five tons of sugar destined for the global market.  While the value of the loss has not been disclosed, it is estimated to be in the thousands.  The sinking of the freight boat resulted from a leak which subsequently led to a rupture.  Today, News Five spoke by phone with BSI’s marketing manager Damian Gough.

Via Phone: Damian Gough, Marketing Manager, B.S.I.

“Sunday night during transit of the barge from the factory in Orange walk down to the Harbor in Belize City where it was to have been loaded on a ship that was out there, around seven, seven – thirty the captain of the tug boat that was pulling the barge, notified us that the barge was leaking and that it was pulling in water. He was instructed to turn around and try to get back to our docking facility in Libertad so we could have tried to figure out what was wrong. Apparently the leak turned out to be much worse than we had anticipated and so it started to sink and we had to abandon that mission and it went down maybe a little before midnight. So in a vicinity known as our point which is just off the Sarteneja coastline of the Corozal District.”

Isani Cayetano

“In terms of tonnage can you speak as to how much sugar was lost?”

Via Phone: Damian Gough

“One of those barges normally take a hundred and twenty, hundred and twenty five tons, but this is one of the risks we are exposed to because of the methodology we us to transfer the sugar to the mills. As a result of that we do carry an extensive marine insurance so even though the sugar has been damaged or lost due to the insurance that we have we expect that the lost should be minimal.”

Channel 5