Heading in the right direction

The year 2024 marks a historical milestone for Port St. Maarten. In June it was the company’s 60th anniversary (1964-2024) marking progress and development.

The vision set out for the development of Port St. Maarten’s facilities and tourism overall was political stalwart Dr. A. Claude Wathey. Back in the 1950s, Wathey had a plan to bring progress and development to the people of Sint Maarten.

Wathey officially became a Member of Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles in 1954. Ten years later, in 1964, the first deep water pier was inaugurated and named the AC Wathey Pier. Between then and 1980, the tourism sector, – both land-based and cruise – slowly started to grow.

By 1980, the destination was catering to 105,000 cruise passengers annually. This figure later grew as the Caribbean started to become a more popular cruise destination for US travelers. Over a 10-year period, cruise tourism grew to more than 600,000 annually.

Development

Between 1998 and 2008, Port St. Maarten went through a phenomenal growth in infrastructure development. In 1998 work began on what would be renamed the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facilities.

The project was completed in January 2001. Armed with an ultra-modern cargo facility and a four-berth cruise pier, things did not stop there. Due to trends and developments within the cruise sector, Port St. Maarten had to be at the forefront to take advantage of new opportunities and in December 2007, the first pile was driven into the seabed for a second cruise pier that would be able to accommodate two mega-size cruise ships bringing the total cruise ship berths to six. The second pier was completed in November 2008.

In 2002, cruise tourism reached the one million mark and over a decade later the two million mark was achieved in 2014. This also represented the 50th anniversary of Port St. Maarten’s cruise facilities. On average Port St. Maarten has been receiving 1.5 million cruise passengers annually. During the decades of modern port development, Port St. Maarten has expanded its operations which fall under four pillars: cruise, cargo, yachting, and real estate.

The Highlights

Throughout the decades Port St. Maarten has been recognized and has received numerous accolades. The port received the ‘PAMAC Award Caribbean for Everyone’ during a Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Platinum Associate Membership Advisory Council Cruise Summit (PAMAC).

The cruise passenger destination experienced a score of 9.3 out of 10 which is testament to the hard work and dedication from partners in the hospitality industry on Sint Maarten which has resulted in a welcome increase in positive reviews from cruise passengers.

Port St. Maarten has been chosen as the “Best Cruise Port” by the Caribbean Journal (CJ) Travelers’ Choice Awards.

Destination St. Maarten #2 in CruiseCritic.com Cruiser’s Choice Awards as a Top-Rated Eastern Caribbean, The Bahamas & Bermuda Destination out of five destinations.

Port St. Maarten Group was the proud winner of the Seatrade Cruise Award in the category #WeAreBack – Onshore at an annual Seatrade Cruise Global that took place in Miami Beach, Florida. The Seatrade Cruise Awards is the global cruise industry’s most distinguished award program.

Gottwald Mobile Harbor Crane

Port St. Maarten Group (PSG) bolstered its operational capability with the acquisition of a state-of-the-art Gottwald Mobile Crane from Konecranes in Europe, the world’s leading crane manufacturer, which arrived in mid-2023.

The arrival of the crane was another phase of PSG’s vision of investing in the future development of port operations in close collaboration with stakeholders in the cargo sector to maintain its competitive advantage within the Northeastern Caribbean.

ESP 7 Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor Cranes are designed for cargo handling to serve vessels up to post-Panamax class. The crane has a working radius of up to 51 m, lifting capacities of up to 125 t and lifting speeds of up to 120 m/min, and installed power of 809kW. In the two-rope variant, these cranes offer high flexibility when handling containers as well as general and project cargo.

Cargo operations at PSG are a cornerstone of port operations and an income earner. Port St. Maarten performs a very important logistics service and serves as a hub for the islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, St Barts, Anguilla, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, and Antigua & Barbuda.

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