St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) expects the upcoming season to be a good one. “We’re coming off the heels of a relatively successful season and we expect that this coming season will be on par with last year,” says SMMTA President Brian Deher, who is also director of Marina Operations and Planning at Island Global Yachting and general manager at The Yacht Club Isle de Sol and The Simpson Bay Marina.
As the season approaches, he urges residents to treat others with respect and politeness and be helpful whenever possible. “This is regardless of whether they are tourists or not. People want to be around other people that are friendly and happy. This is true and important if you live here or are visiting. We were always known as The Friendly Island and that’s something we really need to continue to work on and be known for because it does make a difference and separates us from other locations that have similar tourist offerings and of course, always help keep the island clean.”
His message to marine-based businesses and workers was simple: “Continue to think about the big picture and the macro environment. To use a marine based analogy, a rising tide lifts all boats. The more we can collectively make St. Maarten the yachting destination of choice in the Caribbean, the better for everyone. At times businesses and workers may find themselves in a situation where their actions and decisions have a much greater effect than they may realise at the time.”
Deher said SMMTA continues to spend the majority of its time working with different government and private sector associations, foundations and committees to ensure that the “very fickle nature” of the marine industry is better understood, protected and supported within government and by other stakeholders on the island. “We’ve also focused on continuing to educate and motivate the St. Maarten youth to get involved in the industry by way of marine based hobbies or through specific job training initiatives.”
Deher listed the following areas when asked what the three main things were that SMMTA wanted the recently sworn in William Marlin cabinet to focus on:
1) Better support of marine events like spotlight St. Maarten - Government could work with marinas to reduce SLAC’s rates on bridge fees and mooring fees during the month of November. The private sector offers discounts up to 80 per cent in some cases to help start the yachting season earlier in November versus after the Antigua Boat Show in December. This will help all businesses on the island and should be better supported.
2) Understand the seasonality and uniqueness of the marine industry and offer quicker resolutions to foreign work permits for specific jobs that cannot be filled by anyone in St. Maarten. For instance, Riggers, this is a very specific job that most people learn through extensive apprenticeships. As such, the best Riggers don’t usually have college degrees so in some cases; it makes it more difficult for them to get work permits. This is a very specific example that is just meant to emphasise that in all industries, the government needs to really look at why a specific company is requesting a work permit and consider the benefits to that company and by extension to St. Maarten by granting it rather than simply refusing the request because all of the predetermined criteria is not in place. I must say that this change is already taking place in the actual government departments so things are improving, but we stress the need for continued improvement and focus on this important issue.
3) Continue to focus on education so that our children have as many opportunities as possible to be successful in their lives. “We continue to deal with the setbacks discussed over the past many years, but rather than focus on them, SMMTA is working on moving forward and helping our members and St. Maarten to the extent we can.”
Despite the setbacks, though, St. Maarten continues to be the yachting capital of the Caribbean and the most sought after location to home-port for the winter season. “There is however, continued growth by other islands in the Caribbean and the competition will only increase over the following decades as more state of the art marinas come on line and supporting companies open for business. St. Maarten needs to help support the existing marine infrastructure and make sure that government owned companies are facilitating the growth of all industries rather than competing with them.”
In updating on SMMTA’s calls for authorities to strip Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority (SLAC) of its regulatory powers and have the regulation handled by an independent body as SLAC functions as a regulatory body and serves as a competitor, the association said, “There has been no movement on this issue unfortunately. Unless SMMTA and other stakeholders continue to remind people and government officials of this alarming issue, it will continue to be swept under the carpet and be ignored. As such, you can expect to hear more from SMMTA about this and other issues in 2016.”
SMMTA will continue to work in the best interest of the industry and wished everyone a great season!
