Former board member of St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) and sitting president of Kids at Sea Foundation, Lorraine Talmi weighed in on trends in the marine industry.
Talmi said St Maarten’s marine industry faces increasing international competition not just from other Caribbean destinations such as British Virgin Islands, Antigua, St. Thomas and the up and coming St. Kitts, but every place where yachts have typically berthed. This, she noted, is because more and more services follow the yachts rather than stay in port and wait for the yachts to arrive. “So we see bigger and bigger boats – managed from afar; bulk services being contracted annually or with specific providers that dispatch goods and technicians to the vessels wherever they are.”
“Even dockage can be bundled across locations for bulk bookings, such as Island Global Yachting’s Anchor Club. Other services that are becoming more and more global are provisions, which are already extremely competitive on St. Maarten due to the quality of food available, but also our duty free status; fuel, communications access; technology and mechanics.” Talmi also said that management companies are becoming more powerful as they manage fleets; they negotiate in bigger and bigger blocks making use of true economies of scale. They gather quotes and use the lowest local bid as a way to beat their known supplier down on price.
“On the plus side, we are also starting to see a slight return of cruising class vessels to St. Maarten; these are typically smaller, owner-operated vessels, but just like the rest of the industry where 10 years ago a 40-foot boat was considered larger; now that is the smaller side and 50- and 60-foot plus are the large class. A trend toward large catamarans, 70 to 100 feet, even owner operated or with just a captain is starting to be noticed as well.”
Another issue is that the cruising class, as does the industry, still complains vehemently about the St. Maarten Lagoon Authority (SLAC) fees and the lack of services for the fee. “This is true double and even triple taxation as the marinas pay for the water rights, the vessels pay the SLAC Fees and then the Marinas also pay Turnover Tax (ToT) on the dockage bills. Let’s not forget the vehicles that pay road tax, while the vessels pay a bridge fee meant to maintain the lift bridge. If this kind of triple taxation was occurring in the stayover or cruise sector, one could be sure that the Ministry of Finance would take notice. However, since they do not control the SLAC fees or the water rights and they do not understand how valuable and how perishable the marine sector is, it has been a long and losing battle for the industry to find any champion in government to broker a change. Then adding insult to injury, every time a seasoned marine industry professional engages with a visitor who is outraged by paying an additional bill upon checking out and accuses us of standing idly by while they are being taken advantage of to pay for services that have never been provided.”
Talmi related a story of a neighbour who flew in to St. Maarten with his family and took his boat out for a long weekend. “When he cleared out, he was hit with a US $600 Lagoon fee for the five weeks the vessel was docked adjacent to my floating home. If you include his dockage bill, then this vessel pays for the privilege of docking in St. Maarten close to $20,000 a year, just for a concrete slab to tie up to, access to water, but no water which is provided by the marina and a place to throw their trash – also provided by the marina. I’m not sure any land lubber would pay $20,000 a year for an annual parking space. I had to laugh the last time I spoke with someone in government about the fees; he lamented that we were going on about those SLAC fees for so long that he thought they were already taken care of. Unfortunately, there are only two possible entities in our government apparatus that could take care of the fees: SLAC or Parliament. Sadly, neither is motivated to do so.”
On a positive note, Talmi said some success is being seen in the “Kids at Sea” Build Your Future project where Milton Peters College graduates are beginning to make their way into the industry. For these young novices, one barrier “definitely broken down” is knowing where the key to the door is, meaning they have already learned to leverage their contacts made and to request assistance in finding work. “So in addition to skills, the project has given them some confidence to make the first call toward standing on their own, so that is exciting.”
She also commented on the annual Heineken Regatta. “We are afraid for the sustainability of our cherished Heineken Regatta. Indeed it is our only solid event on the sailing circuit. Though it is the largest, the organisers have already raised every flag that they cannot continue to churn out the fabulous product that they do without some support. Again, a plea, if I may to the Minister of Finance (Richard Gibson Sr. – Ed.) to look into the arrears and more importantly the tangible return on investment that this event brings to the island, as well as international goodwill that is untouchable with our current level of tourism marketing – i.e. none to speak of.”