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The Daily Herald writes today that the Sint Maarten Parliament expressed its desire for a high speed ferry service to link St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius via a unanimously adopted motion tabled by National Alliance (NA) faction leader Member of Parliament (MP) George Pantophlet in a plenary session on Wednesday, writes The Daily Herald.
The motion is related to a similar ferry service that will take to the waters to link Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire in the near future. The ferry service was discussed in the early January Tripartite Meeting of the government of St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba held here.
A feasibility study on the local tri-island ferry still has to be carried out. MPs Franklin Meyers and Theo Heyliger of the United People’s (UP) party voiced concern about how such a service could impact the viability of local carrier Windward Islands Airways International Winair.
The ferry is envisioned to carry people, cargo and vehicles. Another concern was what impact such a carrying capacity would have on car rentals on the islands as well as other charter boat services, many of which are small and medium businesses.
Winair used to fly to Saba and Statia within the same flight – and then got greedy and separated them – over $300 on two separate flights to get to an island 10 minutes and 30 miles away – come on.
All well and good to have a high speed ferry service between the three islands, but has this been discussed with Saba and Statia or is this just one of those political gimmicks? Personally we do not need a high speed ferry that will transport vehicles we need a high speed ferry that would be able to transport people (tourist). We must also protect the M/V Edge and Dawn II in whatever we are to get out of this for Saba. What we need is a high speed ferry service from the port of Philipsburg cruise facility to transport tourist to the islands from the cruise ships.
Sea transport service is an integral part to any developing economy to assist in the development of people, physical, land,sea and marine resources, for which the Dutch islands are recognized as fertile ground. What is needed as an introduction to the discussions, is for progressive consultation with all stakeholders,legislative framework and governments’ commitment be the main focus of success. By this sea transport provision many needs for Tourism social and economic development will be realized, in the not too distant future.
Adopted Son.
The ferries can carry cargo as well as people, similar to the ferries existing in the European Netherlands (Wadden islands).