Business View Caribbean - July 2016 85
and services from St. Maarten to the rest of the
Caribbean and beyond.
“When you work together you are able to achieve
a lot,” said Ted Richardson, minister of tourism and
economic affairs, transport and telecommunication.
“This is a beginning. This project has to trigger interest
abroad. It shows that St. Maarten is a great country to
do business with.”
In the late 1950s, Dr. A.C. Wathey was among the
first to recognize that tourism could be a transcendent
industry on the tiny island – comprised of just 37
square miles – in the northeastern Caribbean. And
Wathey, who died in 1998, was considered the “Father
of Modern Day St. Maarten” for his efforts.
Since his pronouncements decades ago, the constant
and unprecedented growth of the industry has
resulted in tourism being the foundation for the island’s
economy. The island’s first deep-water pier at Great
Bay was labeled the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise Pier
when it opened in 1964, and he continued to call for
newer, larger and better harbor facilities to match the
burgeoning potential his native land possessed.
In 1980, 105,000 cruise passengers visited the island.
Nine years later that annual number had jumped more
than six times, and, by the end of 2002, the figure
reached 1 million.
But while Wathey did not live to see his urgings for
drastic facility upgrades become reality, his name now
adorns the entire complex – which is named the Dr.
A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facilities. The sprawling
harbor is also home to a similarly named cruise pier,
the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise Pier, along with the John
Craane Cruise Terminal and the Captain David Cargo
Quay.
The cargo quay has a length of 540 meters, docking
capacity for three general lift-on lift-off and two roll-on
roll-off vessels at a water depth of 35 feet. The facility
is serviced by two 100-ton Gottwald shore cranes and
includes a container storage area of over 3,000 TEUs
(twenty-foot equivalent units).
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