Importing a Boat to Australia

[tuskie]

Congratulations Dragon Lady,
You must be experiencing a sense of great relief and achievement that things worked out well. Seem to me to be a result of much careful planning and preparation as well as a little bit of luck. Enjoy the fruits of your effort!

[ausaviator]

I've seeing some well prices Lavezzi's at the moment myself lately, got me thinking. An Australian based 2003 model sold for sub $300k and I'm seeing others around that age at the $220k mark. Makes the Lagoon 38's of similar vintage look expensive.

[Dragon Lady]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

I've seeing some well prices Lavezzi's at the moment myself lately, got me thinking. An Australian based 2003 model sold for sub $300k and I'm seeing others around that age at the $220k mark. Makes the Lagoon 38's of similar vintage look expensive.

Really that does sound very cheap if that is the case I would forget about importing a boat.

[Johnathon123]

It seems the market in OZ has stalled at the moment and I am getting a lot of calls - that boat you looked at has now been discounted.

Either that or the vendors are finally seeing the writing on the wall

[dennisail]

So any more on exploiting loopholes in this horrendous red tape that takes up so much time? In my readings of these threads I have seen a few people mention they had purchased a boat and were off a couple of days later. When asked how I got no answer.

My girlfriend Nikki has relatives all over the US. Would it be legal for us to get a US relative to purchase the boat so it can fly the US flag. Then we proceed to do the trip with the boat in their name? Months of red tape gone in an instant? As far as I can tell the major prob is that an Aussie can not own a US flagged boat, and a boat MUST fly a flag or it will encounter difficulties in international ports. Prob being it takes up to 3 months to get the boat flying an AU flag.

We could then draw up a bill of sale showing we purchased the boat off the relative once it got here? Where could this go wrong?

[Dragon Lady]

I think that's quite do able the boat will have to be registered as a US ship and you will need to be able to trust the relo to sell you the boat for a dollar when it gets here.
The red tape issues I had related to the French side the Aussies were great, have you talked to them about the process?

[savoir]

You could always register the boat in the name of a corporation in one of the world's tax havens. The Caribbean is full of them. Take a look at BVI which is quite popular for registration. Save time by paying for the tonnage survey before you settle on the purchase. Similar deals are available in Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey.

Step by step guidance on ship registration

[dennisail]

MarkJ has been very clear than in his opinion it will take around 3 months to leave the BVI once all the red tape has cleared, due to settlement times, and fedex documents that need to go by snail mail to and from Aus to get Aussie registration. I pretty much gave up on the idea of buying from the BVI because of this. I just do not have 3 months to sit around.

Savoir this is an interesting development not mentioned in any of these threads so far. Nikki has recently become a AU citizen. But was a citizen of the UK. So I am not sure they have dual citizenship or not (will ask when she gets home). But even if not her parents still do, so maybe we can still avoid using a corporation as a middle man (that sounds a little risky and expensive). Thanks for the heads up.

Is this type of registration expensive?

4.0 OWNERSHIP - QUALIFIED CATEGORIES: INDIVIDUAL OR BODY CORPORATE

4.1
Citizens of and, Bodies Corporate registered in the BVI or, any of the following countries, are qualified to own a Virgin Islands vessel:

United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
Nationals of and bodies corporate incorporated in;
Member State of the European Community (EC) or European Economic Area (EEA). Overseas Territories of the Members of EC or EEA.
(Bodies corporate must have a place of business in such MemberState or OverseasTerritory)
Bodies corporate incorporated in a MemberState of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) or the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) (and registered in the BVI)

[savoir]

UK registration under part III SSR is super duper easy and cheap too at a mere 25 quid. You just need a UK citizen and address . . . and . . . . and . . . . you get to fly the red ensign . . . . kewl !

Still need a tonnage survey.

Details here

Fees, forms and checklists for registering pleasure craft : Directgov - Travel and transport

[savoir]

Originally Posted by dennisail

MarkJ has been very clear than in his opinion it will take around 3 months to leave the BVI once all the red tape has cleared, due to settlement times, and fedex documents that need to go by snail mail to and from Aus to get Aussie registration. I pretty much gave up on the idea of buying from the BVI because of this. I just do not have 3 months to sit around.

Savoir this is an interesting development not mentioned in any of these threads so far. Nikki has recently become a AU citizen. But was a citizen of the UK. So I am not sure they have dual citizenship or not (will ask when she gets home). But even if not her parents still do, so maybe we can still avoid using a corporation as a middle man (that sounds a little risky and expensive). Thanks for the heads up.

Is this type of registration expensive?

USD600 first year then USD100 every other year.

Corporate registration in Guernsey is cheaper at 280 pounds for 5 years.

[dennisail]

OK so the private reg under UK citizenship is easy and cheap? And corporate is more expensive and harder (but still less that gaining AU flagging).

Nikki is on her way home. So I can ask her if she still has Citizenship of the UK

[savoir]

If all else fails I can give you a plan C. Worked for me. My success fee is payable in Coopers - red of course.

[dennisail]

Here is the spreadsheet I have been working on.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post758112

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by savoir

If all else fails I can give you a plan C. Worked for me. My success fee is payable in Coopers - red of course.

Ok... I'll bite.

What's plan C ?

[meyermm]

Normally I would not disagree with Mark J but three months for Australian registration. I certainly did not wait that long but I did have my wife doing the paper work here in Brisbane with info supplied by me from Mexico. I found the Australian boat register very quick and easy to deal with. You get a provisional registration number which is the ultimate registration number anyway and if my memory is correct you then are allowed up to twelve months to finalise. I sailed the boat over and completed the documentation here in Brisbane. As long as you have some official Australian boat registry document with the boats ID number and the provisional number you should be ok crossing the Pacific, but then forum sailors might know better