Most cargo operations take place at the Captain David Cargo Quay, which sits right next to the Cruise Facility. Captain David Mills, after whom the cargo facility was named, was also known as Vance James Sr. but was more popularly called Captain David. He was a consummate sailor who transported cargo mainly food items, building materials, medicine, and soft drinks, particularly, Coca-Cola from St. Kitts to St. Maarten. He was a skilled captain who braved the treacherous Statia Channel between the two islands on his small vessel, Lady James. He would be greeted by the sounds of the conch shell upon his safe arrival at the Great Bay Pier.

Apart from being a brave seaman who always exhibited a positive attitude, Captain David was also reputed to be a natural salesman and a shrewd businessman who established the first major soft drink distribution company on the island. His son, Vance James Jr., would later replace him as Managing Director of the family business.

In 2007, Ballast Nedam, in a joint venture

with Danish Per Aarsleff, signed the contract with St Maarten Harbour Holding for the cargo port expansion which then went from 270m to its current 540m, with an alongside depth of 10.5m that can be expanded to 12.0m. It has a 3,000 teu- container storage area, two Gottwald HMK 260E mobile harbor cranes, each with a lifting capacity of 100 tons that are used to handle containers. The cargo facility can handle both load-on, load-off (lo-lo) and roll-on, roll off (ro-ro) operations. It is one of the few ports in the region that can do so.

There is a breakwater at the southern end of the port that protects the container yard from the worst of hurricanes. Beside a 444 m2 warehouse there is an inter-island pier and two ro-ro berths at the southern and northern ends.

In 2001, Port St. Maarten became a landlord port and outsourced cargo handling operations to. St. Maarten Shipping & Stevedoring NV (SSS) and St. Maarten Port Services. This was done to remain ahead of the competition by improving commercial flexibility.

The Captain David Cargo Quay

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