For more details on this indispensable guide on getting to the next port, click the picture above.
But for how to have things shipped and remove some of the surprise costs…or save a lot of research of how best to send your spare parts when you get to your next port…read this below..
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It used to be that many countries honored a “Yacht in Transit” through their country, meaning if you needed a part for your boat sent from overseas, while you were transmitting through a country, there would be no import duty since you were not actually “importing” the item; you were just receiving it and taking it away with you, like everything else on your boat. You weren’t planning to import it and sell it.
We have found, going across the Indian Ocean, that this was honored sometimes, but other times it wasn’t. Sometimes it depended where it originated from, other times it depended on the value of the item. Other times it just depended on the mood of the agent, or the specific service used. It’s been a bit of a minefield to sort through as we transit through these countries fairly rapidly and don’t have time to figure things out like we may have in other countries.
In SE Asia, since we were there for a while, we knew to go to Duty Free ports like Labuan or Langkawi to receive items. But we also learned by putting a specific number on the package and writing “Yachts Spare Parts” on the package, we could usually get most things with no duty if not a little bit more paperwork.
But in the Indian Ocean, despite reading past blogs and gleaning every bit of information that we could, it wasn’t a uniform procedure. Sometimes it even turned out that the taxes would be cheaper to pay than the fees a required agent must be paid to receive the item duty free!
In SE Asia, we noticed in the last 6 months that we were there, that Amazon would tack on a Customs Fee Deposit though they may have called it something else. They stated that whatever it didn’t cost them to import your item in to the country would be refunded to you within 60 days. That was mostly true and of probably 30 packages we had sent from Amazon, we received most if not all of this money back. What a pain though. Sometimes I bought elsewhere to avoid the question of this.
But…the benefit of using Amazon, we found in the Indian Ocean countries, and I suspect in other unpredictable places, was that Amazon was a near guarantee of no hassle recieving the item. Yes, you paid some taxes to Amazon upfront, but they were upfront, and there was no room for any funny business or miscommunications on the receiving side. And you may even get something back! Amazon has some clout, some expertise at shipping things…so it’s likely they are gonna have an easier time than most of us would, not speaking the language or knowing the procedures. Both we and other yachties we know ordered things through Amazon and had no problems or delays receiving their items. It seems Amazon may just be a good things for Yachties. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases…but I have learned this year that Amazon is yet another tool that every cruiser should have in their toolbox!
Here is the specific wording from Amazon…
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases