A short, simple flower lane, and the gateway for St Barths. Nine hours in the air. Get the import permit done once and every order after it takes three days.
If your winter itinerary has any flexibility, Sint Maarten is where flowers are simplest. Princess Juliana handles perishable cargo, the marinas are minutes from the airport rather than an island away, and the flight is nine hours, which makes it a short, simple lane. A consignment that lands in the morning can be on the passerelle in the afternoon.
There is one thing to do first. Sint Maarten wants an import permit for cut flowers, and it has to be granted before anything is bought, which takes 5 to 7 working days. So plan it about two weeks ahead of your first order. Then it is done for the season: the permit fixes a species list, stays on file, and every order after it goes through in the normal three days. Get it started in October and nobody on board ever notices it exists.
It is also the gateway. St Barths has no cargo airport, so consignments for Gustavia clear here and move across. If your boat is splitting New Year between Sint Maarten and St Barths, one delivery into Simpson Bay can feed both.
Bought at the Aalsmeer auction in the morning, packed cold, inspected and certified on site the same day. Out of Schiphol as perishable cargo, consigned to your yacht as ship's stores in transit. The agent has the detailed invoice, the packing list, the phytosanitary certificate and the air waybill 48 hours before landing. Boxes to the passerelle, cold, in the numbered boxes as listed.
Simpson Bay bridge opens on a schedule, and a delivery that arrives ten minutes after a closing waits for the next one. It is a small thing that turns into a warm box. We time the delivery to the bridge openings rather than hoping.
Yes, and it is worth getting it started early. It takes 5 to 7 working days and it has to be granted before the flowers are bought, so plan it about two weeks ahead of your first order. It then covers the rest of the season. The permit fixes a species list, stays on file, and every order after it goes through at the normal three days. The phytosanitary certificate travels with each consignment and we arrange that too.
Once the permit is on file, 48 hours’ notice and the flowers are bought at the next auction, then nine hours in the air as perishable cargo held between plus two and plus eight. About three days from your message to the passerelle. Plan the permit before the first order and every order runs this fast, Monday to Friday.
100 kg volumetric per shipment. A yacht order normally clears that without trying. We ship Monday to Friday, so a request made at the weekend starts on the Monday.
Yes, and that is often the sensible way to do it. St Barths has no cargo airport, so its flowers clear at Juliana anyway. Tell us the itinerary and we split it at this end.
We plan the delivery around the opening times. A box that waits for the next opening is a box that gets warm, and that is avoidable with a phone call the day before.
Yes. It is a different customs regime from the Dutch side, so say so when you order and we will route it accordingly.
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