BigCreekGroup_web

THE BIG CREEK GROUP nies that operate out of Big Creek are: the Port of Big Creek– the country’s principal port for exports; Banana Enterprise Limited–providing port, tug and barge, and stevedoring services for the Port; Belagro Agriculture – the largest fer- tilizer and agro-chemical supplier in Belize; BC Shipping– an international container shipping company; Haney Farm Limited– shrimp farm- ing; and Softech Data Center - an online travel agency. According to Anuar Flores, brother of Zaid, a former Director of the Central Bank of Belize and currently a Director of Belize Electricity Limited, and, for the past several years, a busi- ness consultant to the Group, the history of the Port of Big Creek is intimately tied to the coun- try’s banana industry. “It has been at the center of the development of the Port and the Big Creek Group,” he explains. “In the early 1980s, the once government-owned and foreign-man- aged banana industry was on the verge of col- lapse. The United Kingdom wanted the bananas but the production was too small to justify the efforts; the shipping time was too long and manual loading on barges, transported to Gua- temala for transshipment to the UK, was just not cost-effective and created significant quali- ty issues. “The then Chairman of the Irish-owned Com- pany, Fyffes, Mr. John Ellis, a former Vice Chair- man of United Brands Fruit Company, a vision- ary and strong advocate of the Belize banana industry, with the assistance of Craig Griffith, a retired Investment banker, coordinated with the