Several months ago, Mr. Leslie Lloyd, Manager of the Anguilla Government’s ferry passenger dock at Simpson Bay, St. Maarten, complained that there were too many discrepancies which were hindering the proper functioning of the facility.
He was at the time speaking at a joint meeting of the Anguilla Tourist Board, the Anguilla Hotel and Tourism Association and a number of ferryboat operators. He argued, among other matters, that ferryboat operators were not following the regulations and that, as the Manager of the dock, his duties were to ensure the orderly use of the facility – and that he was prepared to enforce the regulations.
Mr. Lloyd is now relieved that the situation has improved and that the dock is functioning smoothly to his satisfaction. Back in Anguilla, for a weekend break, he told The Anguillian newspaper on Sunday, March 10:
“Since that meeting in Anguilla, we have improved quite a bit,” he stated. “As you probably have heard, we are extremely busy. I think it is about 85 percent of the tourists that visit Anguilla come through our dock in St. Maarten. We are now functioning very smoothly. We think we are having good cooperation from all the ferryboat crew members and the support staff. We are cooperating and we are getting out our guests to [and from] Anguilla as soon as we can.
“As you are perhaps aware, we are operating with an 80-foot dock which is basically servicing all the vessels coming in. We are extremely busy on weekend within a three-hour window from 2 to 5pm. We usually move an average of 250 persons from our 80-foot dock. Thus far, Anguilla is experiencing a very robust winter season. We expect that our high season will be a bit longer than usual due to a late Easter this year, and our hotels are forecasting very good numbers up to August.”
Asked whether there were other needs for improvement, he responded: “I think we need, somehow or the other, to get out of the temporary facility that we are in – and there are some discussions going to make that happen. I am really looking forward to that. As I said, we have made significant progress and I think I have impressed on all the operators the importance of following the rules established at the dock. So far we are seeing that all persons are following the rules or else there would be absolutely chaos.”
Mr. Lloyd said the temporary dock facility opened for operations in July 2018. “We are experiencing our first busy tourist season this year.”
In September 2017, the original dock was totally destroyed by Hurricane Irma, thus occasioning the setting up of a temporary facility until the Anguilla Government can make further arrangements in collaboration with the Dutch St. Maarten authorities.
