Under What Flag Would You Register ?

[Lagoon4us]

An interesting point, 'Residency for Turkey' is a very simple and cheap process and quite cheap.

Many yacht owners are doing this here.

[Ellen Bumblebee]

Thanks - I'll have to check out the Turkish process. I like the idea of anything that's simple and cheap!

[Lagoon4us]

New Zealand registered vessels are treated better than most others, they enjoy longer cruise log / transit logs and passport holders can visit each country in Shengen for 90 days rather than the whole of Europe for 90 days....
E&OE
Cheers

[Ellen Bumblebee]

I definitely like the idea of registering our boat in NZ since we live here. But given that we're Americans, it might be easier and cheaper overall to register her in the States. We also have Irish passports already so no problems with travelling in Europe for us.

[Lagoon4us]

I've noticed here in Turkey there's a disproportionate amount of boats registered in DELAWARE. Maybe that's the go.

We registered in Australia and we enter European countries using my Aussie passport as Captain but travel Schengen using the English passports. Once Greek officials were aware we held English passports they left us alone, no stamping of passport nothing.

Now we are in Turkey the 18 month rule on our boat has reset. This is to do with Euro tax having not been paid on the boat as when we eventually arrive in Australia we will have to pay taxes their regardless. We entered Turkey using the Aussie passports however the agent said he can get us Turkish residency using our boat as an address!!!!!! Other cruisers are doing this both American and Aussie.

Cheers Frank.

[Hatteras37]

Hello everyone ,

There are new rules and absurd new taxes in Greece for boats quite heavy I must say.

Any ideas for a Greek resident how to go around this?

If for example you have a 12 meter boat even if you are unemployed you consider as having income of 29000 euros and you must pay tax 25% on this sum plus cruising taxes even if your boat is on the hard without moving.

Any ideas?

[Leighton]

Could anyone advise what the difference is between a yacht’s Port of Registry and a yacht’s Flag State?

[StuM]

State is a country. Port is a location in that country.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by StuM

State is a country. Port is a location in that country.

Incidentally the home port of a boat does not always have to be in it's flag state...

[messias]

This topic has converged mainly into a tax related topic, but there is another important reason "why" an EU citizen would register a boat in... another EU country.

Sailing restrictions in his own country.

I'm Portuguese (although not living in Portugal), but if I would like to own a Portuguese flagged boat and keep it there for my vacations "back home", I would have to be a holder of "god knows how many" licenses and in-between steps just to be able to get out of the harbour. Let alone going somewhere offshore.

Portuguese licensing system (I like to call it a national "scam") went straight into the hands of private companies that charge a king's ransom for every single license they issue... If someone would start from stratch and wants to go all the way up to "no limit cruising", it will cost them something like +2500 euros total and +3 years from step 1 'till the end. No more boating for poor people with cheap boats and with wide horizons.
Security items obligatory on board... do not even fit into a small cruiser! And so on... And hey... the famous portuguese officials are famous for a reason, right? I was once boarded just for them to check the first-aid kit! And stories abound of fines being issued because one "band-aid" or "pin" was missing!

Registering it under, say Belgium or Netherlands, avoids (almost) all of these restrictions, complications and expenses...

Long gone are the times where Portuguese sailors could sail out and explore new worlds...

[Zonker]

Long time not posted here but let me tell my story. From all the countries the UK has the most "interesting" licensing system - actually none except for > 24m.

Since I am not British and do not live in the UK I formed a UK company and brought the boat as an asset into the company which makes her already British. Further I registered her in Part 1. Getting ship radio license was just a dream, you can register anything at Ofcom online.

What does it cost ?

- Tonnage Survey .. approx £125 in UK
- Registration Fee ... £124/5y, £49 renewal/5y
- Ship radio license ... free so far
- Getting a red duster ... £20
- Have the shelf company run ... $150/y

So far I am pretty happy with it ... !