It is nineteen months since the stoppage of the daily ferry service between Blowing Point, Anguilla, and Marigot, St. Martin. This is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel restrictions and protocols in place, severely disrupting passenger movements and trade between the two territories.
The situation is a little bit different between Anguilla and Dutch St. Maarten, where travel restrictions and protocols have somewhat been relaxed – although heavily monitored.
But, for the known regular crowds travelling between Anguilla and French St. Martin, and the ferryboat owners, captains and crews, they want to see the service resumed as quickly as possible; but safety remains a constant concern.
Anguilla’s Premier and Minister of Heath and Finance, Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster, speaking at the Government’s Press Conference on Monday, September 6, said the intention was to permit travel between Blowing Point, Anguilla and Marigot, St. Martin, by last month, August. But he pointed out that his Government was being careful to avoid Anguilla being overwhelmed by the COVID-19 virus.
“People have been asking about the ferries to Marigot in general,” Premier Webster recalled. “We had planned, and were working on protocols to resume the ferry service to Marigot this [past] August. However, because of the clusters, and what we know as local transmission, we have had to put a pause on that. Certainly, this is not helping the ferryboat operators, and the captains and crews, who have been affected by COVID-19 and the closure of that ferry service.
“It certainly bothers me. I have been talking with [personnel in] the Ministry of Finance about how we can try in some way to assist the ferryboat operators. We had, as I said, protocols we were going to put in place but, as you look at the press release from the Chief Medical Officer and the Ministry of Health today [Monday, September 6], persons going to St. Martin for just one trip, came back and after four days tested positive. It just shows that the risk is high even for vaccinated persons to travel out of the jurisdiction and then return. “Certainly, we have to mitigate for that risk. We have to make sure that we have the right protocols in place to limit the chance that we continue to import COVID-19 – especially the Delta variant which we find is very infectious and virulent. That’s why I said I am now working with [personnel in] the Ministry of Finance to see however we can help – whether by grants or low interest loans and for deferment periods. These are things that we have to try and do to help those who, for a year and a half – the ferryboat operators – have been suffering, and this is something that keeps me up at night.”
Premier Webster continued: “The plan was that persons would be able to leave [Anguilla] with a negative test and if they were returning the same day they would have had to stay in place or quarantine for three to four days, and then be tested. But we are finding that persons who have done that, when tested on the fourth day, were positive. So that put a wrench in the works right now, and we have to see how best we can mitigate for that risk because if there are more people travelling, there is a higher chance that we import that virus – and it can overrun the system. So we must have a little better control.”
