- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 8 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
John,
I’m sorry to hear that the Bahamas charges import duty on parts destined for a vessel in transit, and such a huge percentage, too. Shame on them, the money-grubbers! Civilized countries around the world have always traditionally permitted foreign vessels in transit to import parts and equipment necessary for the maintenance and operation of the vessel, duty-free. I’ve done it myself in a variety of countries on three continents. I once brought an enormous crate-full of stuff, several thousand dollars-worth, from the US back to my boat in Greece, right though Athens airport customs with their blessing. Just showed them my boat’s entry papers. That the Bahamas sees fit to flaunt this time-honored international courtesy shared between civilized nations is a black mark against them in my book. No doubt they see it as just another way to squeeze money out of Those Rich Americans. Because they can.
Forty-five percent duty on imported parts, $300 for a cruising permit, and I’m sure there’s more. Personally, I’ll bypass the Bahamas entirely when I head for the West Indies.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Tor,
You may find things have changed in Greece if you ever get back there. Although you can still import parts for a yacht in-transit duty-free in the EU I think you will find it not that easy. All these countries are as desperate for revenue as the Bahamas, and they will presume you owe duty on the items unless you are willing to spend the better part of a day at the import point (normally a International airport). At least that was my experience in Portugal.
Somewhere on my website I think I recount my adventure trying to get a repaired electronics part shipped to me in Portugal. I did finally get it through customs for a E1.25 administration fee, but it took a rental car for the day and about 4 hours in the Customs Office at the Faro Airport. Then when I finally got everything cleared I was charged E7.00 per day storage for something about 1/2 the size of a shoe box. I had waited a week to go to Faro so I could use the car for other planned trips so the total storage charge was E49. Again this was for a repaired item not a new purchase part. After that I just had the parts shipped to the Marina and paid the duty. It was cheaper and easier.IMHO, no matter what country you cruise to the Customs Agent is not going to be your friend. At least the Bahamas (and most other countries) don't have anything called Homeland Security. Now there's a really nasty bureaucracy.
John
On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 12:30 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:John,
I'm sorry to hear that the Bahamas charges import duty on parts destined for a vessel in transit, and such a huge percentage, too. Shame on them, the money-grubbers! Civilized countries around the world have always traditionally permitted foreign vessels in transit to import parts and equipment necessary for the maintenance and operation of the vessel, duty-free. I've done it myself in a variety of countries on three continents. I once brought an enormous crate-full of stuff, several thousand dollars-worth, from the US back to my boat in Greece, right though Athens airport customs with their blessing. Just showed them my boat's entry papers. That the Bahamas sees fit to flaunt this time-honored international courtesy shared between civilized nations is a black mark against them in my book. No doubt they see it as just another way to squeeze money out of Those Rich Americans. Because they can.
Forty-five percent duty on imported parts, $300 for a cruising permit, and I'm sure there's more. Personally, I'll bypass the Bahamas entirely when I head for the West Indies.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
John,
Life in the slow lane. I guess I should have added that at first some butch female junior customs officer at that Athens airport said she’d have to quarantine my boat gear until the next day for “proper clearance” or some such nonsense. It would have meant missing my connecting flight to Lefkada Island, where my boat was dry-docked, plus some equivalent of your tedious, expensive, time-consuming experience in Portugal. Well, I happened to have a little dog with me, a 10-lb mutt I’d found starving on the streets of Seville ( http://www.tor.cc/articles/rosa.htm ) who wound up sailing with me when I headed into the Med. She was scampering around the airport terminal wagging and making friends with everyone, as was her way, as glad as I that the very long flight from JFK was over. About then the airport’s head customs honcho came over to see why this tourist was arguing with his bitchy junior agent. My dog, Rosa, ran up to him with such open friendliness that he automatically squatted down and began petting her. “Is this your dog,” he asked me. Oh, shit, I thought. Here we go. Yes, she’s my dog. He looked into the now open crate of boat gear, glanced at my papers, and asked, “Is everything in here for your boat?” Yes, it’s all for the boat. “OK,” he smiled, scratching Rosa behind her ear, “you’re clear to go. Welcome back to Greece.”
So, it could’ve been another frustrating tale of bureaucratic woes like yours, only that time I was saved by a dog.
I guess you’re right. There are obstacles to cruising bliss everywhere. Still, 45% is just plain extortion.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
Tor,
Portual was 33% (2007). Sounds like I need to get a cute dog.As I mentioned, the 45% duty does not appear to show up on parts ordered through authorized dealers in the Bahamas. So either the Government is trying force cruisers to use the local folks rather than have friends bring parts in or the Government has not figured out how to impose the duty on their local businesses. Given it's the Bahamas, I suspect the later.
John
On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 3:43 PM, Silver Heels < ([email][/email])> wrote:
Quote:John,
Life in the slow lane. I guess I should have added that at first some butch female junior customs officer at that Athens airport said she'd have to quarantine my boat gear until the next day for “proper clearance” or some such nonsense. It would have meant missing my connecting flight to Lefkada Island, where my boat was dry-docked, plus some equivalent of your tedious, expensive, time-consuming experience in Portugal. Well, I happened to have a little dog with me, a 10-lb mutt I'd found starving on the streets of Seville ( http://www.tor.cc/articles/rosa.htm ) who wound up sailing with me when I headed into the Med. She was scampering around the airport terminal wagging and making friends with everyone, as was her way, as glad as I that the very long flight from JFK was over. About then the airport's head customs honcho came over to see why this tourist was arguing with his bitchy junior agent. My dog, Rosa, ran up to him with such open friendliness that he automatically squatted down and began petting her. “Is this your dog,” he asked me. Oh, shit, I thought. Here we go. Yes, she's my dog. He looked into the now open crate of boat gear, glanced at my papers, and asked, “Is everything in here for your boat?” Yes, it's all for the boat. “OK,” he smiled, scratching Rosa behind her ear, “you're clear to go. Welcome back to Greece.”
So, it could've been another frustrating tale of bureaucratic woes like yours, only that time I was saved by a dog.
I guess you're right. There are obstacles to cruising bliss everywhere. Still, 45% is just plain extortion.
Tor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Silver Heels, P-424 #17
http://www.SilverHeels.us
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Quote:
Original Message
<.. snip>Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
“Given the Bahamas…”
Nope, that's not the case. The Bahamian government is VERY friendly to the inhabitants – they are given all sorts of special (to us) permissions, for instance, they can use diving equipment for gathering conch and lobster where visitors may only use snorkle equipment. They may use powered spear guns for fishing where visitors may only use sling type spears. The Bahamian government is looking out for the Bahamians (would that ours would do the same instead of just throwing great gobs of money they (we) don't have at things, but that's another rant. So is 'Homeland Security' which is too close to 'Night Watch' or 'Black Watch' for my comfort, frankly, but that too, is another rant. Don't worry, I have a million of them…but I digress).
So, that said, it probably is cheaper to use the Bahamian source and they make their regular mark up, just like, say, West Marine, here. Also, the Bahamians are not above the odd, umm, circumvention of normal import channels. For your info and possible help in these matters, they love Budweiser Beer, especially if it's cold. No one says they have taste.
That said, we should all purchase a second 424 to tow behind us for spare parts.
Bob
—
Bob Fine
s/v Pelican
Hull #8Post generated from Pearson424 Forum using Mail2Forum
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.