"We are hoping that by the middle to the third quarter of next year, the expansion project will be completed," former SMPA managing director Rommel Charles explained in an interview with The Daily Herald.

Charles leaves the island this week after completing a five-year contract with SMPA as its managing director followed by a six-month contract as a consultant with SMPA.

He said the massive expansion at the harbour entailed mainly an extension of the berthing facility, deepening of the waterfront area by the cargo pier and the deepening of the cargo basin.

He continued: "There is also a land infrastructure that is taking place right now as well. We are creating an additional area just under the GEBE (water and power utility) tanks on the hill (at Pointe Blanche) for additional specific businesses.

"We are looking at, for example, storage tanks for bunkering purposes and we are looking at the accommodation of a business that will really be a very, very high-tech cement bagging facility."

He said the principal aspect of the expansion in the cruise area would be the building of an additional cruise pier that will not be as long as the existing one. In addition, more "dolphin clusters" will be added to the existing cruise pier.

"These dolphin clusters really could be seen as an extension to the cruise pier in a sense, because what they will allow is larger and larger vessels, longer and longer cruise vessels to be able to be moored safely alongside the existing cruise pier," Charles explained.

Charles also detailed the significant expansion that has taken place in both the cruise and cargo sub-sectors.

He noted that in the cruise area, whereas St. Maarten had welcomed 869,529 cruise passengers in the year 2000, that figure had grown every year since then. In 2001 it was 886,794; in 2002 it topped the one million mark for the first time – 1,048,350 passengers; 1,160,199 in 2003; some 1,336,393 in 2004; and a new record of 1,466,691 last year (2005).

He said that in the cargo sector, St. Maarten had become an important mini-hub for cargo transhipment in this sub-region over the five years of his contract.

"We have made significant progress in the cargo area. It's an area we are looking very closely at. For example, when I arrived, the throughput level in terms of cargo (normally measured in terms of TEUs – Twenty-foot (container) Equivalent Units), we were at approximately 40,000 TEUs but we are now about 78,000 TEUs for the year 2005 and the figure continues to increase for 2006," he explained.

He continued: "That did not come about by accident. That has come about by actively working with the various local agents and also interfacing with the cargo lines themselves with respect to ensuring that you deliver the quality of service they are looking for and in terms of the price as well."

He said St. Maarten was currently being used as a mini-hub for cargo transhipment purposes primarily for the neighbouring islands, including Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, and it was believed that there was still a lot of work to be done in that area of SMPA's operations.

"We are still working on it and we are seeing the results of the efforts we have been putting in – so much so that the port has decided to expand its cargo facilities … because we see that we can increase the business significantly."

He said a lot of the cargo bound for the French side also passed through SMPA and the shipping lines used St. Maarten "because we have superior physical facilities and superior equipment – including a Gottwald Crane for the last three years – as well."

In detailing the expansion projects in the cruise sub-sector, he explained that when the existing cruise pier was built, it had not been built to the length specified in the original plans because "some politics had come into play." As a result, the pier was built shorter than what was originally conceived.

"Now that you have larger and larger vessels and longer and longer vessels coming on to the market, you need to create some sort of extension so they can tie their stern lines or their bow lines … to give them an added level of safety."

He said SMPA would also be building a new cruise pier with a small land reclamation area, and a new tender pier for water-based operations was now being built at the Pointe Blanche facility.

"This new facility will be not only for tendering, but also for the water-based operators who conduct tours – for example, Golden Eagle Tours and the other people who do dive tours and scenic tours by boat around the island. Those are the principal areas of the planned expansion.

Source: St Maarten Daily Herald