Customs Broker in Seattle area for boat in Canada?

[LeeV]

Boat manufactured in U.S., resides in Sidney BC, and we are going to have it delivered to the U.S. Has anybody worked easily with a customs broker they can recommend?

Thanks!

[exMaggieDrum]

They are not a "customs broker" per se but I am sure they would know who, where, what as they deal with buying and selling boats in Seattle, many of which are "international" sales.

Pacific Maritime Title

[sailingabroad]

Originally Posted by LeeV

Boat manufactured in U.S., resides in Sidney BC, and we are going to have it delivered to the U.S. Has anybody worked easily with a customs broker they can recommend?

Thanks!

Not a customs broker but they will save you thousands on the transfer from CAD into USD - USForex and if you quote, "CruisersForum" in the how did you hear about us you get no sending fees.

Cheers,

Ed

[Sand crab]

A US made boat can be brought in to the US duty free per NAFTA rules. You don't need a customs broker for that. However I am assuming that you are Canadian so you will not be able to document the boat or any boat unless you form a US corporation. If you can't document it then you wouldn't owe duty regardless of where it was made. Documentation btw is a federal title for the boat. I think you will be able to state register it. Where do you plan to put it?

[LeeV]

I just returned from a very long weekend, having flown out Thursday, walked through the boat Friday, a beautiful lengthy sea trial off the coast of Victoria/Sidney on Saturday, and flew home to Md yesterday.

I'm US, and the bank requires USCG doc, which isn't a bad thing anyway. I have the documentation all being done by the group handling the financing, and have arranged for the customs "broker" to handle the one time single import for me, so I'm good to go. Just need a positive survey report this Thursday, arrange for the shipper to pick up the vessel, get it over here to MD and then commissioned. Whew!

Thanks for all the help from the group.

~Lee

[Lepke]

You don't need a broker. If you are going to document it, you can get forms on line: USCG National Vessel Documentation Center, Home Page You may be able to do most on line. In the past, I just hand carried the papers into the closest CG office.
Depending on your state. you may need to pay sales tax. Maybe a temporary dock in Oregon (no sales tax) and you could avoid the tax. I have Oregon residency.
My current boat, built in the US, bought in Canada and imported back in the US by me (US citizen) cost $19. Notify the customs port before arriving. As I remember either by phone or email. The Canadian registration was screwed up, wrong builder, so I came in with a handful of papers, and email copies from Canadian registry, etc., etc. No problems at Port Angeles. The Agent even filled out the papers for me. Because of the builders info screw up I didn't get the documentation finished for several months waiting on Canada. Then I hand carried the papers into the local CG office and was done.

[LeeV]

True; you don't need a broker, but I have friends in the CBP who suggest that if not filled out correctly, and you MUST have a single entry bond, you could spend hours at the border trying to straighten things out. Your choice. My boat was US built, so there was no duty. If you have a trailer it must have a US DOT tag and meet US specs. For a motor, the duty is questionable, depending on which port you come through, no matter what anybody says. Lots of details.

I have a friend who just went through the USCG registration process, and because of all the weights and measurements etc, it took him 2 weeks. It took me a 5 minute phone call and the fee, which was more than worth my time. To each his own.

Lee