On Monday, November 10^th, 2008, LTC. George Lovell, C.E.O of the Ministry of Public Utilities, NEMO, Transport & Communications accompanied by the Ports Commissioner, Major Lloyd Jones (R) of the Belize Port Authority hosted Mr. Otto Guillermo Eduardo Noack Sierra, Executive Director of the Central American Maritime Transport Commission and Mr. Edas Muñoz Galeano, Regional Coordinating Director of the Gulf of Honduras Project for an official handing over ceremony. 

The representatives of the Gulf of Honduras Project officially handed over to the Belize Port Authority on behalf of the Government of Belize a full suite of International Hydrographic Organization standard hydrographic equipment for the purpose of carrying out surveys in our territorial waters extending out to our continental shelf. 

1. One Panasonic Laptop computer.
2. Hypack Software
3. Reason navisound 210 single beam echo sounder with a 200 KHz transducer
4. Valport tide gauge
5. Yellow fin side scan sonar
6. Reason SVP-15 sound velocity probe
7. VS-100 motion sensor

As a coastal state Belize has an international obligation under the international convention for the Safety of Life at sea to provide timely and accurate hydrographic information to mariners. The equipment will assist Belize in fulfilling that obligation. 

The Belize Port Authority expects to commence its first surveys in early February 2009 with a focus on our Ports and the approaches thereto. Thereafter the entire coastline of Belize will be surveyed. 

The Belize Port Authority has already identified a vessel upon which the equipment will be installed. One member of staff has already been trained in Japan as a Category B Hydrographer and two members are currently in Suriname for a one week hydrography workshop sponsored by the International Maritime Organization.