Two Cargo Points, Not One
Ocean freight for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines moves through the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Port Authority, and containerized stone arrives mainly at two places: Kingstown, the primary commercial port on the main island, and Campden Park, the second cargo point. Which one your box is called to changes the trucking distance and how long a crew stands waiting. SVG takes ocean freight directly at Kingstown, so there is no mandatory hub stop for the main island, and that is a real scheduling advantage over markets that wait on a feeder connection.
The New Cargo Terminal
Kingstown has been rebuilding its primary cargo port under a design-and-build contract awarded to Aecon Group Inc. at US$170 million, funded with the Caribbean Development Bank and the UK Caribbean Infrastructure Fund. The scope tells you what the working conditions will be:
- A terminal area of roughly 6.5 hectares on seaward reclaimed land
- A sheet-pile quay wall about 380 meters long, with 130-meter walls flanking the reclaimed area
- A container storage yard plus break-bulk and vehicle storage areas
- Administration and customs buildings, workshops and warehouses
- A Container Freight Station for breaking down consolidated loads
Keys to the Administration Building and the Container Freight Station were handed over to the Port Authority in stages from September 2025. Treat it as new infrastructure still bedding in, and keep your first delivery schedule generous.
Entries Go Through an Agent
Customs declarations are filed in ASYCUDA, and commercial entries are lodged through an authorized agent. Customs publishes a brokers directory, so appoint one before the vessel sails rather than after it berths. Give your agent everything the entry needs in a single package:
- The commercial invoice and a packing list that matches the pallets
- Photographs of the crates exactly as they were loaded
- The bill of lading and the arrival notice from the carrier
- A plain description of the goods rather than a trade abbreviation
If you are phasing a villa build, note that bonded warehousing is available for two years, which lets a developer land a full container of paving once and draw it down as terraces, steps and pool surrounds come up in sequence.
The Road Leg on the Main Island
Saint Vincent is steep and volcanic, and the road network reflects it. A flatbed that clears Kingstown easily can still be defeated by the last two hundred yards of a hillside driveway. Before booking a truck, settle these points in writing with your contractor:
- Where the truck can legally and safely stop
- Whether offload is by truck-mounted crane, forklift or hand
- Turning space for the vehicle once it is empty
- A hard, level place to stand pallets clear of runoff
Stone stacked on soft ground during a heavy shower gets walked into mud before it is ever laid.
The Second Voyage
The Grenadines are not reachable by road, and it is the leg that is easiest to overlook from outside the region. Cargo lands at Kingstown and then makes a second voyage by inter-island vessel to Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau and Union Island. MV Gem Star and MV Barracouda run freight and passenger service between Kingstown and the Southern Grenadines, the Jaden Sun works the fast-ferry route, and Bequia Express carries pallets, containers and loose freight in dedicated holds alongside vehicles and private charters. Admiralty Transport Company has served the Bequia run for more than thirty years. Admiralty Bay at Port Elizabeth is a port of entry with limited cargo handling facilities, so nothing should arrive there that cannot be moved by the gear already on the dock. If you are planning stone paving landed at Kingstown for onward shipment, this leg sets your schedule.
Pallets That Fit the Last Leg
For a Grenadines project, pallet weight and pallet footprint are the binding constraint, not the container price. A stone that arrives on oversized pallets, or in units too heavy to handle without a machine, cannot make the last leg cleanly. We plan the packing around the smallest vessel in the chain:
- Break the container down at Kingstown into consignments sized for the inter-island run
- Keep individual units within reach of two people where dock gear is uncertain
- Match crate footprint to the hold and deck space actually available
- Label each pallet by zone so nothing is opened twice
- Ship spares with the first consignment rather than as a later stand-alone freight
What the Local Base Contributes
Only the wearing surface needs to be shipped in. Sub-base, bedding and concrete come from Rabacca, the volcanic aggregate worked in the Parish of Charlotte and screened into sands, gravel and cobbles. Buying the base locally and importing only the surface cuts freight volume sharply and keeps island spending on the island. Talk to your local supplier about gradings early, because the bedding decision affects the paver thickness you order from us. Our Vincentian stone supply notes set out how we phase orders around that split.
Booking the Window
Work backward from the day the crew stands on site. Add the ocean leg, the entry, the port move, the truck or the vessel, and a buffer for weather. The buffer is the item people cut first and miss most, because cargo that misses a sailing on the inter-island run waits for the next departure. Then request samples early enough that the specification is settled before the container is packed, because a change of mind after the box is sealed costs a full sailing. Plan the last mile first, and the rest of the chain falls into place.