Associate Editor Aileen Mack joined Dockwalk in July 2018. She is a graduate of the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. If she’s not at a concert or coffee shop, she is lost in a book, movie or a YouTube rabbit hole. Email Aileen at aileen@dockwalk.com.
Located in the Great Bay on St. Maarten, Dock Maarten marina has recently completed the construction of a 187-meter dock, providing side-to dockage for some of the largest superyachts and making it one of the largest private marina slips in the Caribbean.
The structure, measuring 12-meters in width, also acts as a breakwater for the inner basin of the marina. Plus, the new dock further enhances the marina by allowing Dock Maarten to offer services to clients, such as the accommodation of 100-ton cranes or larger on either side while still providing ample space for fuel trucks and other service vehicles to access the vessels at the marina.
Built by local St. Maartener Michel Deher 45 years ago, Dock Maarten is owned and operated by the Deher family, who have been working with the St. Maarten government for the past two decades to expand its water rights and concessions. They will continue to expand the marina with additional slips and upland amenities.
“Since the completion of the cofferdam in December 2023, we are now able to offer to our captains a marina that not only has one of the biggest marina slips in the Caribbean, but we can also boast about our access channel that is deep, well-marked, and free of hazardous navigational challenges,” Managing Director Brian Deher says. “Once on the dock, the cofferdam shelters the inner basin, so that our yachts benefit from tranquil waters of the marina while having the flexibility of being in an open bay where they can come and go as their schedule dictates, not at fixed times of the day that might not match the demands of the vessel.”
The construction of the new dock, which began in June 2023, was a cooperation between Dock Maarten, Vanthek Projects BV, Caribbean General Contractors SXM (C.G.C.), and Koole B.V.