Shipping a boat from USA to Europe

[Chanticleer]

Hello folks,
Looking to ship from the East coast to Europe. I am interested in hearing from anyone that has done it or can give me some good leads on how to go about it please.

[jonic]

Hello folks,
Looking to ship from the East coast to Europe. I am interested in hearing from anyone that has done it or can give me some good leads on how to go about it please.

Dockwise in Florida will do it, if not sevenstar sail regularly from West Palm Beach.

We brought our Moody 38 home to Southampton that way two years ago,

[gdallas]

I did it in 2004, used Peters and May. New York to Southampton. Very good, not cheap but expert service. V helpful on VAT etc. Be aware of RCD requirements.

Does depend on size of the boat. Mine is 33 feet. Bigger craft may be worth trying one of those submersible type things.

Graham

[Tranona]

There is an article in this months Yachting World by Tom Cunliffe on shipping boats from USA. Covers both the import requirements (VAT and RCD) and the pros and cons of different methods of shipping.

[truscott]

I did it in 2009 with Yacht Shipping Ltd, who were an agent for shipping with Sevenstar.

After seriously rushing from St Martin to Palm Beach to make the scheduled sailing date, Sevenstar cancelled that particular loading point, leaving us whistling for 2 months before the next shipping date (there was no further loading done from the Eastern seaboard, but ironically there was from the Caribbean!). Yacht Shipping Ltd picked up the berthing costs until the next shipping date, but the guardinage was ****. The delivery skipper simply climbed off and disappeared upon arrival and the boat was simply locked up and left to swelter for those two months, arriving with mould everywhere from not having been aired, all the pots and pans had to be junked as they were covered in rust. All in all, it was a significantly unpleasant experience. Can't fault sevenstar though, the loading/unloading was painless and the boat arrived without damage to hull etc... Also got to say that Yacht Shipping Ltd in the UK were great, it was just their US end that was ****e.

2009 cost for shipping from Palm Beach to Istanbul was US$18,000. A delivery skipper would have been about the same for delivery from St Marten to Marmaris (Delivery to Palm Beach and from Istanbul added to the overall cost as well as berthing fees in Istanbul).

I would not do it again.

PT.

[Chanticleer]

Many thanks for all this info, much appreciated!
Looking at Yachting Monthly I don't see the article mentioned by Tranona in March issue ... April maybe? This article sounds like a lot of info I need!
Still happy to hear any more info ... Cheers

[Turtlemouse]

We recently shipped our boat back to the UK with Sevenstar, and it was painful in the extreme. There was damage caused by their lack of care on loading, and it look a long time and some difficult communications before they admitted liability. YSL in the UK simply passed on their denials and were very unhelpful.

Biggest issues were very unprofessional and faulty processes in the US and terrible communications.

Beware!

[Tranona]

Many thanks for all this info, much appreciated!
Looking at Yachting Monthly I don't see the article mentioned by Tranona in March issue ... April maybe? This article sounds like a lot of info I need!
Still happy to hear any more info ... Cheers

Probably a bit late now - but I did say it was Yachting WORLD

[Chanticleer]

Thanks again Tranona,
I did find the article in the end! Pretty sure it was in Yachting Monthly. Anyway have been in touch with several 'shippers' including Tom's agent in Southampton.
Again thanks for the tip!
Cheers