Long-term keeping boat in Uruguay?

[SebastianSmith]

Any information among you on the rules in Uruguay about keeping your boat there long-term?

I may be living in Brazil next year, but it appears that I cannot be resident in Brazil and bring in my boat (insane rules...). So I thought about basing our boat in relatively nearby Uruguay year-round.

I've heard that the rules in Uruguay are more liberal, but I don't know if there is a limit on how many months the boat can stay there. The boat would be unattended, probably on land, nearly all the land, so I presume there'd not be any issue with my own presence as a tourist in the country -- just the question of the boat.

Any clues or ideas as to who might have the answer? I've been emailing yacht clubs there so far without success.

many thanks. Sebastian

[svlamorocha]

There is no limit. Piriapolis is full of foreign boats. There is good info in Spanish. Can you read Spanish?
C

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[GordMay]

You might try contacting:

National Customs Administration
Head Office
Tel.: (+598) 2915 0007
Fax: (+598) 2915 0007
Website: ADUANAS - Dirección Nacional de Aduanas - República Oriental del Uruguay

National Ports Administration
General Management
Tel.: (+598) 1901 2819
Fax: (+598) 1901 2173
Website: Inicio - ANP
Customer Service
Tel.: (+598) 2901 2168 or (+598) 0800 8128
Email: AtencionAClientes@anp.com.uy

National Chamber of Commerce
Head Office
Tel.: (+598) 2916 1277
Fax: (+598) 2916 1243
Website: Cámara Nacional de Comercio y Servicios del Uruguay

National Chamber of Industries
Head Office
Tel.: (+598) 2604 0464
Fax: (+598) 2604 0501
Website: Cámara de Industrias del Uruguay - Cámara de Industrias del Uruguay - Página principal

Association of Uruguayan Customs Brokers
Head Office:
Tel.: (+598) 2916 5612
Fax: (+598) 2916 5612 ext. 29
Email: adau@mail.adau.com.uy

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by SebastianSmith

Any information among you on the rules in Uruguay about keeping your boat there long-term?

**
Any clues or ideas as to who might have the answer? I've been emailing yacht clubs there so far without success.

many thanks. Sebastian

In Uruguay the usual places for foreign boats are not yacht clubs but government-owned marinas. Yacht Clubs are for locals for the most part. Do not expect them to respond to your email on a customs issue. (IMHO nothing unusual about Uruguay in all this, it could be almost any other country, except for those Anglo Saxons and Northern Europeans that feel it is polite to respond to an enquiry ).

Your worry is about Customs rules. If you want to get it form the horse´s mouth call the Customs office in Punta del Este (+598 424 41921). I would not bet they will respond to email but their address is puntadeleste@aduanas.gub.uy .

AFAIK the only issue with multi-year stays in the hard (assumming you get the space and have teh money to pay) is that after X months in the hard you will need a safety inspection prior to launching again. No big deal, I recall they would honor your own flag´s rules for the inspection but that was a while ago...

Just do not show up just with a Delaware state registration in the name of an LLC that cannot be traced to you........

Your first worry may end up being not time limits but how to secure space, which is very tight for storage on the water and ashore in Uruguay. The Uruguayan coast can be a nasty place for a boat without refuge in bad weather! There is a mix of spaces reserved for boats that were there the previous year (mostly Argentines) and spots alloted on first-come-first served basis. Do not show up in November, December or January!

In order to secure space you need to talk to the Jefe de Puerto (harbormaster) who works for the Dirección Nacional de Hidrografía. Try +598 42 446 121, +598 42 443 490 or +598 42 443 787.

Cheers

[SebastianSmith]

Thank you very much all for that advice, including the warning about tight space. I'll get myself organized to try and call since emailing doesn't seem very effective. Are the Uruguayan places generally good value or expensive?
Apart from Punta del Este I understand there may be travel lifts at Piriopolis and possibly Florianopolis?

The main reason I'm looking at Uruguay at all is that it appears that in Brazil, where I would be working, a resident cannot bring in his own boat without facing a huge tax. People can cruise there on tourist visas but I have not yet encountered a way it can be done on a resident visa, which sounds nuts.

So I'm looking into either Uruguay or Trinidad for alternate "one holiday cruise a year" type bases.

If anyone has any more thoughts I'd be grateful. Thanks.

[svlamorocha]

Originally Posted by SebastianSmith

Are the Uruguayan places generally good value or expensive?

As everything, it depends... Given the strength of the Brazilian real, hence high Brazilian wages in US dollars, you may find Uruguay affordable unless you go to Punta del Este.

Originally Posted by SebastianSmith

Apart from Punta del Este I understand there may be travel lifts at Piriopolis and possibly Florianopolis?

Florianópolis is in Brazil. Both Punta del Este and Piriápois have Travelifts.
Be mindful about the current port expansion at Piriápolis, which I heard would require port closures for extended periods. Also be mindful about the in-the-water rates at Punta del Este; I do not know about dry storage rates.

Originally Posted by SebastianSmith

The main reason I'm looking at Uruguay at all is that it appears that in Brazil, where I would be working, a resident cannot bring in his own boat without facing a huge tax. People can cruise there on tourist visas but I have not yet encountered a way it can be done on a resident visa, which sounds nuts.

Yeap, the tax is high but the situation is not that different to the one in Europe, where if you are a resident you cannot use a boat that has not been "imported" (ie VAT and duty paid) into a European country. Similarly, in the US if you become a resident you cannot keep your foreign boat under a cruising license. Unfortunately unlike in Europe the Brazilians will not let you claim that your boat is your "means of transport" and allow tax-free import on that basis.

In my time as an expat in Brazil I came across other expats who were using non-residents as front men to get their boats into Brazil under a cruising license so that they would be able to use their boat while on secondment in Brazil. Nowadays it is much easier to get caught unless the front man stays on the boat when the boat is used; if you go to Fortaleza you can see one boat that was caught recently and was taken by Customs. That does not stop people from doing it (in fact I met a nice Canadian fellow who is still doing it) but I would not recommend it.

Originally Posted by SebastianSmith

So I'm looking into either Uruguay or Trinidad for alternate "one holiday cruise a year" type bases.

I am afraid the trip from Trinidad to the sailing areas in Brazil ( ie Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Santa Catarina) is too difficult to do it once a year. You would probably have to go to the Azores, Canaries, etc to avoid strong unfavourable wind and current.

You can do the Uruguay-Brazil (say Angra area) trip once a year; in fact many Argentines who like a vacation in their own boat in warmer waters do it (or hire someone to do it) every year. That said, this is not a trip to do on a schedule as when limited by vacation time from a corporate job. I have done this trip it twice and both times we stopped for weather for more than a week. Read Search efforts intensified for missing sailboat - BuenosAiresHerald.com to find out what happened to four guys who tried to do this trip on a schedule and were lost.

Originally Posted by SebastianSmith

If anyone has any more thoughts I'd be grateful. Thanks.

Where are you going to be in Brazil? Sao Paulo?

I lived there for a few years when I was in the rat race and sailed the whole Brazilian coats twice in a break from it. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk specifics.

Boa sorte!
C

[SebastianSmith]

thanks again for all the advice. I'm going to be in Rio, I hope, so it would have been great having the boat nearby. we recently brought the boat to France under transfer of residence rules, meaning that we paid no duties whatsoever; they just don't let you sell within 12 months. that sounds They tax vehicles of any kind at a rate amounting to something very much like the total value!
So I'll do some phoning for Uruguay, since over the net it seems pretty hopeless. That might be a good back-up if the prices are OK. As you say, you could use a summer to sail up toward Brazil and back. Alternatively, Trinidad could be a safe place t do long lay-ups, with good short-term cruising all around. I quite like the idea of getting all the way down to Uruguay though -- something new and we'd be set for continuing further south to Tierra del Fuego, as we hope to eventually.
Either way you could fly down/up to do one good holiday a year. I think it boils down to prices and what's better for the boat -- being left ashore unattended for long periods in Uruguay or in Trinidad (maybe better yards, but with the killer UV rays)?