ORANJESTAD/KRALENDIJK – The number of passengers transported by ferry connection between Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten is by no means close to the number of passengers transported by air between the three islands. While recently information from State Secretary Van Huffelen suggested otherwise, this is the conclusion of independent research by the editors of Bonaire.nu

State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen claimed in a letter to Dutch Parliament that the ferry transported 9,090 passengers versus 7,625 passengers who had taken the plane between December 2021 and July of this year. Her conclusion was that the ferry is used more frequently than the plane.

It is not clear on which figures the State Secretary bases her statements. Official figures about the ferry use are not known as of yet. But figures about air traffic do exist, as these are registered by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

Air traffic

From Roosevelt Airport in Sint Eustatius, a total of 11,470 passengers arrived and departed in the first six months of this year and December 2021, and from Saba airport this number was 11,770. Together, the number of departing and arriving passengers comes to 23,240.

With these figures -even the indicated number of passengers transported by the ferry are correct- about 6 times as many passengers were transported by air, compared to those via the maritime route. The flight figures also cover a month less than the ferry period referred to, because the month of July has not yet been released by CBS.

The editors of Bonaire.nu asked the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations for a response, but so far received no reply.