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One of the hallmarks of the Conseil économique, social, culturel et environnemental (CESCE) is that it likes to work discreetly. A guarantee of serenity, no doubt. On February 14, for example, the Council published a report on the challenges of freight transport in Saint-Barthélemy on its website (cesce-stbarth.fr). The document, which continues the work begun by CESCE in May 2024, takes stock of the current situation, identifies risks and challenges, and proposes avenues for reflection aimed at mitigating the impact of future changes and better anticipating the more complex management of logistics flows. This work has aroused the curiosity of several neighborhood referents, who are themselves subject to regular questions from their neighbors. As a result, Davy Magras, Liza Blanchard and Emmanuel Leprince requested a meeting with the council's elected representatives to find out more.
Strikes, stopovers, breakdowns...
The questions asked are the same ones that most Saint-Barthélemy residents are wondering about, at least when they don't already have the answers. For example: "Are food shortages due solely to strikes by French dockworkers? "CESCE's answer: "The shortages are not due solely to strikes by French dockworkers, although these do make a significant contribution to the disruption (33 days of total or partial strikes between January 1 and April 3, 2025). Other factors include unfavorable weather conditions on the Atlantic, ship breakdowns, congestion at Public's commercial port, cancelled ship calls (container deliveries to Port of Spain instead of Sint-Maarten several times a year, etc.), as well as supply problems at the French port.), as well as supply and order-picking problems for retailers in mainland France. The supply of fresh produce, which is highly dependent on regular transport, suffers particularly from these cumulative hazards. "
No additional stopover for Saint-Barth
On the fact that stores on Saint-Martin do not suffer from the same shortages, CESCE explains: "Saint-Martin benefits from diversified supply sources due to its dual nationality, a larger territory, a greater number of retail outlets, and the fact that it is the only island in the world to be supplied by a single supplier.a greater number of food stores and better adapted infrastructures, such as the Frigodom company, offering refrigerated storage. Saint-Barth, on the other hand, has no such facilities, and there is always an additional stopover for goods from Europe: Guadeloupe or Sint-Maarten. "A fact that the Council develops in its report.
Compelled by directives from France and the European Union, the CMA CGM group has adopted more environmentally-friendly ships, running on liquefied gas (LNG) and biomethane, with increased transport capacity. The new vessels will be able to carry up to 7,700 20-foot containers, i.e. 26% more capacity than the current vessels serving Sint-Maarten. However, these new ships will no longer serve the port of Philipsburg (Sint-Maarten), refocusing on the major seaports of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which have been transformed into port "hubs". These route changes will be implemented as early as next September. No doubt they will have an impact on food supplies to Saint-Barth.
Sint-Maarten or Guadeloupe?
In fact, the CESCE explains that going via Sint-Maarten "offers greater flexibility" for transporting goods to Saint-Barth: more shipping companies, shorter turnaround times. But sometimes the Sint-Maarten stopover is omitted by CMA-CGM, when the ship is delayed, either on departure or during the crossing. "Containers are then delivered to another island (often Trinidad and Tobago), which then has to be rerouted to Saint-Barth, thus extending lead times when this happens," points out the Council.
At the same time, choosing to go via Guadeloupe is not always a safe bet either, as "there are fewer solutions for getting containers to Saint-Barth", CESCE points out in its report, adding: "Vessels have to be available and there are fewer of them. "What's more, inter-island shipping lines adhere to a strict schedule, and when a ship from Europe arrives late, the container ships making the connection to Saint-Barth continue to fulfill their other contracts.
14 recommendations
The main consequence of these delays is that ships arrive at their destination with products that have already expired. In 2024, 26 tonnes of food products were the subject of a request for destruction following delivery delays," explains CESCE. This does not include products taken off the shelves and destroyed when the use-by date has passed after they have been put on the shelf. "To remedy some of this waste, one of CESCE's fourteen recommendations is that retailers in Saint-Barth " explore the possibility of stocking fresh or dry produce in Guadeloupe and Saint-Martin with specialized companies such as Frigodom".
Other recommendations in the CESCE report include improving access to the port of Saint-Barth for perishable goods, developing air freight, increasing the use of the port of Saint-Martin and improving the quality of service.velopment of air freight, the introduction of performance indicators "to assess the impact of each player on container backlogs", the integration of Saint-Barth in the Port of Saint-Barth, and the creation of a "container transport network".the integration of Saint-Barthélemy into Caricom (Community of Caribbean States), diversification of supply channels (notably with neighbourings neighbors), developing a direct trade line with the Dominican Republic, optimizing port storage... A vast undertaking.
