Cape Town: custom duty exemption when shipping to an "in-transit vessel"

[B4A]

Here is the situation:

I need to ship some household goods from the US to Cape Town using a Sea Freight Carrier.

The recipient is an In-Transit vessel.

When the recipient is an In-Transit vessel owned by a foreigner, will custom duty or any other tax be applied to the shipment?

Thanks!

[lamadriver]

Good luck with that

I can almost gaurentee it’s more hassle tha it’s worth .

If it’s house hold goods just get what you need in capetown

[JohnT]

Get hold of Craig Garrow of Pronto Clearing.
Mobile: +27 83 651 5691
Office: +27 21 551 5692
Email: craig@prontoclearing.co.za

He is the guy who does the import of most equipment used by the major boatbuilding yards in Cape Town and also the export of the completed boats. He should be able to advise you. You will most likely find the goods need to be kept in bond until delivered to the vessel in question.

Remember the time difference - Cape Town is UTC +2 with no summer or winter adjustment.

John.

[Seymore]

In the BVI the shipper charged duty on everything, even if it was labeled "Yacht in Transit". They were simply not prepared to pass judgment on whether an item was dutiable or not. Then you carried the receipt to the Customs office and they refunded the duty.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Seymore

In the BVI the shipper charged duty on everything, even if it was labeled "Yacht in Transit". They were simply not prepared to pass judgment on whether an item was dutiable or not. Then you carried the receipt to the Customs office and they refunded the duty.

Hey Seymore, it does not work like that in South Africa. Once you receive your goods and then try to get a refund on import duty and VAT, you will be very lucky to see any such refund. You need to work via a shipping agent who is registered with the tax authorities and knows the laws involved.

[Jannie Radiance]

Have a hundred rand note at the ready in your palm......

[Mito430]

It has probably changed a bit since 2000, but when we purchased our Voyage cat, we shipped over a small pallet of stuff and used Craig Garrow. He delivered it all right to the dock. It worked well and while we were getting the boat ready for the trip back to the Caribbean I kept all of our receipts and turned them in along with receipts of what we had shipped over when we cleared out at the port office. I figured it was a lost cause, but a few months later I received a check in the mail at our home address in OR for all the duty that we had paid.
It was a nice surprise! Craig is definitely still the broker to use!

[B4A]

Thanks everyone. John, I'll contact your guy.

Fair winds!