Shipping a boat to the Med

[Lucid]

My wife and I would like to take a year or two off and sail. We have discussed sailing the Med and are looking at options to get us and our boat to the Med. One option is to ship the boat over. It looks like for $16-20K I can ship my boat to Italy from the US. Does anyone have any experience doing this and what was the experience like.

[Snore]

Check some of the posts in this thread. A few have had bad experiences shipping as deck cargo https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...sa-241362.html

Of course as a delivery guy, I am “the other choice”.

[goboatingnow]

Put together a couple of likely lads and sail her across, Catalina 425 should be up to it , sailed carefully

[LittleWing77]

I agree with delivering her on her own hull as well.

Reach out to Auspicious, Boatman61 (based Portugal) and Snore who are all excellent delivery skippers, highly qualified and members of this Forum.

Good luck!
LittleWing77

[Tudorsailor]

I have had my 49 footer go from UK to Mallorca twice. Once by shipping with YSL and once crewed. The advantage of shipping is much less wear and tear. Much less prep than getting a yacht ready for an west to east Atlantic voyage. Crossing the Atlantic is equivalent to 3 years wear from cruising apparently. You or your representative does need to be there to take the yacht once its dropped in the water on arrival. There is no hanging around. Why send to Italy? Why not Palma Mallorca? We had no damage or problems with shipping the yacht.
If you do chose Palma, I can give the details of someone who can receive the yacht for you
TudorSailor

[BillKny]

Everybody I know who has shipped a boat on a REAL yacht delivery transport has had excellent results.

There are people who have had bad results, but overall, there will be a lot less wear and tear on your boat shipping than sailing. Don’t ship as “deck cargo” on a general purpose cargo ship. Use specialists. Be sure you understand all the insurance details (they are very complex). Best if you have your OWN insurance, and not count on coverage from the shipping company.

When I have quoted long range deliveries, I pretty much always came out just about the same price as shipment. Every client chose to ship, with my full support, and they were happy with the result.

If you would be shipping a 42 foot boat, you would very likely be one of the smallest, and least expensive, boats on the ship. Those gold-plated 100 footers sharing the deck with you wouldn’t be there if it was the disaster people here seem to make it out to be.

[goboatingnow]

The other thread had a problem with Seven Star , this is a dedicated yacht shipper, not general deck cargo etc

[Muaddib1116]

When I was researching yacht shipping before the pandemic, it became pretty clear to me that the majority of the shipping companies (yacht specific) are actually brokers that coordinate the transport of your boat on the deck of bulk freighters. Very few of these companies, if any, actually have their own ships. The routes for the ships that only carry yachts are very limited and the costs for using these is much higher than a bulk freighter. Ask a lot of questions before agreeing to anything.

[goldenhind]

Originally Posted by BillKny

Everybody I know who has shipped a boat on a REAL yacht delivery transport has had excellent results.

There are people who have had bad results, but overall, there will be a lot less wear and tear on your boat shipping than sailing. Don’t ship as “deck cargo” on a general purpose cargo ship. Use specialists. Be sure you understand all the insurance details (they are very complex). Best if you have your OWN insurance, and not count on coverage from the shipping company.

When I have quoted long range deliveries, I pretty much always came out just about the same price as shipment. Every client chose to ship, with my full support, and they were happy with the result.

If you would be shipping a 42 foot boat, you would very likely be one of the smallest, and least expensive, boats on the ship. Those gold-plated 100 footers sharing the deck with you wouldn’t be there if it was the disaster people here seem to make it out to be.

We have shipped our 48 ft Motoryacht twice between Europe and US. Of course it's not really an option to sail her across being a motoryacht, we would advise you to use a dedicated transporter, BUT our experience with Seven Star is such that we openly warn you of using them. As far as we are concerned they are crooks, and should not be in the trade at all. They damage our Yacht to the tune of almost $45K, and did every trick in the book to avoid responsibility. Our last resort was Court which rewared us with full reimbursement. Life is to short to deal with crooks.

[bluewaterbill]

I shipped my Swan 44 to the Med from Newport to Sardinia in 2004.
I used Dockwise Express. I prepared the boat for 10 day crossing, removing sails, canvas and running messengers for halyards. But I saw boats loaded with sails on, anchor on bow and ensign furled! My Boat arrived in tiptop shape. Paid $12K in 2004 and took advantage of discounts for early booking/payment. I had a great experience and would use Dockwise again. Btw, you can inquire about crossing with your boat. It is allowed on large yachts, but may be possible on others. If you wish, you can call for “last minute” loading, on space available basis. Rates are negotiable, if you are flexible. My guess is shipping is slow now, due to Covid.
We eventually spent 9 years in the Med and sailed T/A to Caribbean in 2013/14.
Wonderful memories and a trip if a lifetime! DO IT!

[goldenhind]

We also used Dockwise once, excellent transport, super agent in Genova. Recommend.

[ausnp84]

I’ve used two delivery skippers - one of which resulted in damaged steering and the other resulted in total loss of the boat - while good friends of mine had their boat professionally shipped from Tahiti to the UK with Sevenstar (or similar) and were very happy.

There’s a big cost difference (Sevenstar are a lot more expensive than a delivery crew) but as mentioned above, there’s a lot less wear & tear on your boat.

N

[Jack C]

If your boat was manufactured in the USA, then check if the EU retribution tax instituted in response to a Trump tarif is still in place. We looked into shipping our O'Day 39 from the USA to Italy about 18 months ago. Apparently when the yacht is offloaded, onto the dock or directly into the water, it has to clear customs as an import and a 25% tax is levied. Its not a VAT tax. If you sail in, its not an import and is not applicable. Knowledgeable shipping and honest brokers will make you aware of this, with others you are on your own.

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by Jack C

If your boat was manufactured in the USA, then check if the EU retribution tax instituted in response to a Trump tarif is still in place. We looked into shipping our O'Day 39 from the USA to Italy about 18 months ago. Apparently when the yacht is offloaded, onto the dock or directly into the water, it has to clear customs as an import and a 25% tax is levied. Its not a VAT tax. If you sail in, its not an import and is not applicable. Knowledgeable shipping and honest brokers will make you aware of this, with others you are on your own.

Excellent choice on boat btw... my first boat was an O’day 34 and I was always keen on getting a 39/40.

N

[Jack C]

Originally Posted by ausnp84

Excellent choice on boat btw... my first boat was an O’day 34 and I was always keen on getting a 39/40.

N

Thanks for the compliment. We were planning to ship our O'Day to the Med but the tax and other factors made it not worthwhile. Instead we bought in the Med.

We don't see ourselves returning to the USA in the future so we have decided to sell our O'Day 39. It is in excellent condition and geared for off grid cruising. Its located in New Bern NC.

If anyone is looking for a ready to go cruiser, please PM me for more information.