A few hiccups for the Voyager 3 Dreamliner
The ship’s troubles, caused by a series of incessant setbacks, have led to the suspension of ferry services between Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin.
It all began on 31 August when the ferry company ‘Voyager’, which operates the sea link between the two islands, announced that it would be carrying out its annual refit for two weeks from 7 September; to ensure that the service between Marigot and Gustavia continued uninterrupted, a replacement vessel was to be made available to passengers, operating twice a day, seven days a week.
The first hiccup: there will be only one crossing on 7 September due to the replacement vessel, the Makana, being withdrawn from the evening service. Ultimately, there will be no departures on that day and, faced with this exceptional situation, the company is raising an issue that is, in fact, rarely discussed: that of maritime territorial continuity between our two islands. This continuity is the subject of public schemes, designed to facilitate residents’ travel and maintain regular connections in many French island territories, but not between the Northern Islands.
On 8 September, the Makana was finally ready to carry passengers on two daily return journeys between Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy. In a dramatic turn of events, two days later, the Voyager was informed of a last-minute change regarding the vessel’s availability; as a result, there would be no crossings in either direction on 11 September, and only one return journey the following day, Saturday 12, as well as on Sunday 13. In a press release, Voyager was informed that the Makana would unfortunately be unable to operate the scheduled crossings on the following days, as the vessel had to be redeployed to replace another ship serving Saba and Saint Eustatius, in accordance with its owner’s territorial continuity obligations. The final blow came when further bad news suddenly emerged: the Makana had suffered a technical fault, forcing the shipping company to cancel all its crossings until the return of the Voyager 3 Dreamliner, scheduled for the evening of Sunday 20 September.
Affected passengers may choose between a full refund of their ticket or an ‘open’ postponement, valid for one year. According to Voyager, this service is, however, essential to the daily lives of many residents: business travel, medical appointments, studies, shopping, connections to Juliana Airport, family visits, etc.
As aircraft are unable to handle all passenger traffic between the two islands, the sea link faces significant constraints such as vessel maintenance, statutory inspections, compulsory refitting, not to mention the vagaries of the weather and high operating costs. Let us remember that the last time territorial continuity was discussed, some people saw fit to buy an airline, so… let’s hope we can avoid a repeat of that.
