Panellists:
· Yann Prat – BWA Sales Manager
· Lorenzo Ciquera – MD BWA Yachting Monaco and France
· A1 Yachting Greece – Rosemary Pavlatou
· Malta Yacht Surveys – John Moss
· De Felice Yacht Consulting and Management – Ida De Felice
**Please note that this is a transcript and it was taken as thoroughly as possible, information is not guaranteed as being accurate and does not constitute legal advice. Information is changing very fast and so it is best to contact the local agent of the port where the boat is based or wants to cruise to, to get up-to-date information.
Yann Prat – BWA Sales Manager
Spain, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Turkey, Gibraltar
- Case by case basis
Gibraltar
Ports fully open for all vessels
No restrictions for yachts with local health declarations
If they fail, there will be some special conditions put in place
Airport open for crew movement
Crew changes can take place
Hotel rooms can be arranged for crew joining and leaving
Guests: from most of the nationalities are allowed to join the yacht with certain conditions and
There is no quarantine or mandatory tests required for people arriving in Gibraltar
Spain
All ports in the country are open such as the shipyards
Yachts can only enter if they have a confirmed booking in a marina either if they come from outside Spain or inside Spain
Once in Spain, there is no legal compulsory quarantine if you have no declared cases of Coronavirus
There is a pre-arrival protocol that is still strict stricter than before, and the authorities require some additional documents like the maritime health declaration and the ship's sanitation certificate (if you are commercial)
No problem to get a transit visa for crew
Crew can be stamped in or stamped out there is no limitation on that side except there are a few more administrative requests from the authorities but nothing too complicated
Most of Spain hasn't earned phase three of the de-escalation, from 21 June travellers arriving from EU states and Schengen area countries will no longer be required to stay in quarantine except for travellers coming from Portugal
From 1 July travellers from outside of the EU and the Schengen free travel area will be permitted to enter Spain taking consideration of any reciprocal agreement on travel and the (…unclear pronunciation) situation of the country of origin, so hopefully, will be back to normal from 1 July in Spain
Croatia
Croatia has been back to business for a few weeks now, so most of the COVID restrictions are suspended
All guests are allowed to enter the country except if you are a cruise ship with more than 40 passengers on board
Quarantine is not required upon arrival to Croatia for crew or guests, regardless of where the yacht is coming from and irrespective of the people's nationalities
All foreign nationals who are travelling to Croatia are not required to do quarantine
No self-isolation required
COVID tests are not required
Everyone travelling to Croatia is only suggested to follow the recommendation given by the Croatian Institute of Public Health
it's only a recommendation (not regulation), so everybody can volunteer to follow this recommendation or not
Only Cavtat, Dubrovnik, Split, Sibenik, Rijeka and Pula are open for immigration and clearance formalities
Porat has recently opened for out border clearance control only but under the condition that clearance must be announced 48 hours in advance, but even if clearance is limited to the port I've just mentioned you can still arrange a berth in any marinas of your choice in the country
International Airports are operating, but there are only two airports with direct commercial international flights which are Zagreb and Split
All the other airports are connected with local flights
Private planes able to land at any of the International Croatian airports
Guests who are flying to join a pleasure yacht in Croatia, as well as additional crewmembers, must present an invitation letter (so you must get this letter) issued in advance by your yacht agents otherwise they won't be granted entrance in the country
Embarkation of guests in Croatian ports is also allowed, no additional documents are needed except the usual traditional travel documents and the invitation letter from the agent
10:59
Montenegro
Montenegro is a tricky one because our colleague there mentioned that maybe from tomorrow there will be some change so what I'm going to tell you now is valid today, but if you are planning to go to Montenegro it's better that you get in touch with us and we update you tomorrow
The overall regulations in Montenegro are quite complex, so it's very complicated to understand every rule
Most of the ports and marinas are now open
From 1 July the authorities should issue a "whitelist" it which includes all the countries that are the weight of active coronavirus case that is less than 25 per 100,000 inhabitants
This list is updated weekly (or even more if there is some need). It has been updated today with an additional country that has been removed
Quarantine is not required
Standard clearance procedure conducted for yachts that are coming from countries that are on this white list and carrying crew and passengers with passports from countries from this white list and confirming that in the 14th days prior to arrival these people were not in any of the countries of this white list, so you have to follow many rules to be able not to be in quarantine when you get in Montenegro
14 days quarantine is compulsory for yachts coming from countries that are not part of this white list and if you carry crew that do not have a passport from a country that is part of this white list
Before yachts come they must send a request for permission of arrival to the local authorities
If quarantined yachts need to depart Montenegro before the full quarantine being over it's possible but you still need also the permission of the same Authority
Private flights to Montenegro are allowed with planes of maximum ten passengers capacity regardless of the crew, and passenger nationality and regardless from which country the plane is arriving as long as all relevant permits from on Trina Montenegro airspace and landing at Montenegro airport is obtained in advance
All arriving people (crew and passengers) must have a valid PCR test not older than 48 hours
Tests must be conducted by the authorised medical institution and presented upon arrival
If you just want to go to Montenegro for duty-free fuel, it's allowed, and you can just go and do the fuel and leave right after we haven't had any specific restrictions
13:40
Albania
Yachts for Albania can enter in the country and are allowed to stay at anchor and undock without time limitation
Before they were able to come only for bunker and provisions with an immediate departure; now you can stay as long as you want
However, yachts can come only with crew and the crew have to stay on board all the time during the stay in Albania
Crew movement can be arranged under certain conditions
Our agents of the country are expecting maritime borders to be reopened and crew and guest movements to be allowed from 1 July
14: 17
Turkey
Good news for Turkey because the Turkish government has announced last week that they reopen their border for foreign nationals WITHOUT any quarantine or self-isolation requirements
So tourists travellers do not need any specific hard documentation to enter or to leave Turkey
Upon arrival the official will take travellers temperatures at the maritime pots and travellers with high temperatures and from country with a high risk may be subject to pass a PCR test
Lorenzo Ciquera – MD Monaco and France
Everything changing very quickly so it is a case-by-case basis
16:46
Monaco
The port and anchorages are open
The big difference Monaco is doing is between boats that are coming from the Schengen area and boats coming from outside the Schengen area (rather than passengers)
Boats coming from Schengen area are welcomed in Monaco they don't have to make any quarantine
They have to issue a DMS (Maritime Declaration of Health) 48 hours before arrival and the police is very strict on that
Once they arrive in Monaco they're absolutely free to move on Monegasque territory without any restriction
For boats coming from extra (outside) Schengen the procedure is a bit tougher
The boat is automatically put in quarantine once they get in Monaco once they arrive in Monaco
Everybody on board (means crew and guests) are required to do a COVID test and everybody has to stay on board until they get the results from the test
I just want to under underline (because we had in one case like that) the police is very very strict on this they controlled the boat 24/7 by cameras so it's you are relegated on board
Once we get the results if everybody is negative the quarantine is lifted by the supervisor/maritime authorities
For anchorage areas it's all free - boats can anchor off anywhere in Monagasque waters respecting the Posidonia
I would suggest everybody to download an application for Android and iOS which is called Donia - this application give you all the instruction on where the Posidonia is and where you can and cannot anchor
For boats greater than 80 meters you must get the authorisation to semaphore through VHF again I recommend to call your agent before to make sure that all the authorities are informed in due course
19:20
France
Navigation in France is open and the ports are open as well anchorage's area
Again the big difference is between the boats arriving from Schengen and from boats arriving from extra Schengen ports
Boats arriving from Schengen ports need to communicate their arrival in port or Anchorage to the different authorities which could be cross Med or semaphore depending on the length of the of the boat
Again they have to send a DMS declaration (Maritime Declaration of Health) 72 hours before their arrival and again they are very strict on this
Once in port – no quarantine
Crew and guests are able to move anywhere in France because the limitation in France have been lifted so there is no limitation to move within the territory
To anchor outside in South of France the big concern is the Posidonia
I recommend again to download the app Donia to make sure you don't go and anchor [where you shouldn't]
Depending on the length of the boat they must call the semaphore or the cross med or the prima and of course your agent to make sure to have the right anchorage spots
There is no specific restriction for boats arriving from Schengen ports to navigate in South of France
Also the limit of ten guests onboard has been lifted so now that there is no limit of guests on board for a yacht in South of France
Boats arriving from extra Schengen ports have to again to ask authorisation to arrive in a French port
There is no problem they will be subject to quarantine once they get in and tested once they get in South of France
At the moment touristic activities for people arriving from extra Schengen areas in France are forbidden I recommend if you have to embark guests with extra Schengen passports you cannot do it in South of France
You cannot arrive with extra Schengen passports in South of France I recommend you to do it in another country
I recommend if the boat is coming from Turkey or Croatia to stop in Italy first
For crew and guests: anyone arriving from a Schengen area is welcome in France (as the Prime Minister says) is welcome in France (Schengen area, Norway, Iceland, Swiss and Lichtenstein)
France applied the reciprocity principle so with citizens arriving from Spain and UK they the France are invited to do quarantine (which is not compulsory is an invitation) so I guess it can be avoided but this is what the prime minister says
Any Schengen visa that was supposed to expire between 16 March and 15 June is automatically renewed for 180 days
South African crew arriving in South of France need to fly through the UK to be able to get in South of France
No quarantine for anyone arriving from Schengen areas
For people arriving from extra Schengen with extra Schengen passports, they are allowed into France only for very serious reason still so just for work or for a family reason
Tourists coming from outside EU or Schengen area is not allowed yet. This is valid until 1 July
French prime minister says after 1 July they will progressively begin to reopen borders
There is not a list yet of countries for which the borders will be reopened
There is no restriction on moving inside France if arriving by plane or by car or by motorbike or bus whatever it is from anywhere in EU
Greece
A1 Yachting Greece – Rosemary Pavlatou
We did very well through Coronavirus, probably the best in Europe because a lot was done very early on to protect the islands and they're still protecting the islands
They locked down very early because the health system, especially on the islands, is not great and it could not deal with huge amounts of coronavirus
Currently yachts can come into Greece from Monday (22 June) but they can only go to the mainland and they can only come with crew
At the moment most yachts can come in but they cannot come in from Turkey or Albania
We're expecting Greece will be open from 1 July (the prime minister was on the television a few days ago)
Hotels that are usually open year-round have opened again. They opened a few weeks ago
We aren't currently accepting many flights - most of them are going to Athens or Thessalonica and none to the islands directly (you can change in Athens)
That is going to change on 1 July and we are expecting (it hasn't been announced yet) that people will be able to join yachts and a huge number of flights will be allowed to go directly to the islands and things will open up
On 1 July (on the Islands) hotels that are open just for the tourist period will open (we don't have any official word yet for yachts being able to visit the islands but we are hoping 1 July is the magical date)
Now: when people come in they are tested for Coronavirus. They are quarantined for seven days if the test is positive and they quarantine for 14 days if the test is negative [**think this is meant to be the other way around]
We've heard (things are moving very fast and we have to wait for laws to come in which is very frustrating) that this will change very soon so people will have to get in touch with us and see what the latest information is
We have heard that there will not be testing and the quarantine periods continuing and they expect from 1 July only to be random tests for people. If positive, they will have to quarantine but again that has not been issued into law so far
Things are opening up, we do have some yachts that have arrived
VAT: New law was brought into most of Europe changing the VAT rules for charter
Greece VAT was supposed to go up 24% and it was going to be incredibly complicated
They were also going to, for the first time, collect VAT from visiting yachts that embark and disembark guests OUTSIDE Greece (which they've never done before)
They have gone back to the old regime so VAT has gone back to either 12% or 9.6% for this season
We have been assured that the new law won't happen BUT because the law was suspended, it isn't in writing in law that they will not collect the VAT from visiting yachts.
We have been given an oral assurance by the ministry and we are trying to get in writing that they are going back to the previous position which was not to collect the VAT from visiting yachts and the 12% or 9.6%
Charter Licences: For those that don't want to embark or disembark outside Greece, charter licenses are much more possible to attain than most people imagine
We obtained a good number of them and it doesn't take that long (once we have all the paperwork, it takes about one and a half to two weeks)
Malta
Malta Yacht Surveys – John Moss
Most restrictions locally have now been lifted
Local cruising is allowed
Hotels, restaurants bars etc are open
People are back to work
Social distancing required in shops and restaurants
It's compulsory to wear a mask in shops etc
Schools are shut until September although we expect some schools to open next month
Very few cases over the last few weeks (in single digits but they're a very small population so you need to multiply these two figures by hundreds really to compare with France Italy UK etc)
We've had a total of 663 cases currently today 44 active cases with 610 recoveries and 9 deaths mostly in the over 80s and a couple of younger people with serious health conditions
About a quarter of the population have been tested
20 per cent of the cases are imported before shut down and the rest has been community spread
All passenger travel to and from Malta by sea and by air has been banned since March
There was narrowly shut down here as well
From 1 July it is expected that people may travel directly between Malta and some safe corridor countries which are mostly European Union countries but not all of them there's quite a few missing on the slide
Image shared via the webinar
The countries in bold are the ones with Mediterranean borders
There are some major ones missing from this list including Turkey, Tunisia (where a lot of yachts go for fuel from Malta) and also transit countries like the UK, Holland etc are not on there
Italy, Spain and France were added to this list this week but with some exemptions
Most of these places do not have a coastline except for Catalonia in Spain which is obviously the Barcelona area so you cannot come directly from Barcelona to Malta
If you're transiting through Madrid, Milan, Turin you would need to make sure that you were actually allowed into Malta and you would probably have to quarantine
You will be asked on arrival if you have spent the previous four weeks in one of these safe countries and not been to any other country
If you answered no to that question you will have a mandatory 2-week quarantine and that is strictly enforced by the police with €3,000-€10,000 per day fine if you are caught breaking the quarantine
The latest rules say exemptions may be granted for people to travel to or from countries other than those listed where it's necessary or essential but we are not sure yet whether that will apply to crew changes, surveyors etc so that's starting on 1 July
Expect from 15 July that all these restrictions will be removed and then you'll be able to travel here from anywhere in the world and that applies to yachts arriving and leaving as well
For the last two weeks, the superintendent of Public Health is allowed transiting yachts with only crew to enter Malta for refuelling, repairs, servicing, flagging, customs procedures and other ancillary necessities
To date (as in today) all the yachts that have arrived in the last two weeks have had to quarantine for two weeks (very strictly enforced)
We expect that to continue until at least 1 July and possibly another two weeks after that for high-risk countries and high risk regions
Surveys: the UK MCA and Transport Malta and most other flag states have put arrangements in place to extend statutory survey windows initially by three months and possibly longer depending on how things develop
Some countries, like Malta, also require a remote survey. Other countries it's just a simple application so the vast majority of yachts should be able to work the rest of this season even if they haven't managed to complete their annual surveys in the spring
Italy
41:32 De Felice Yacht Consulting and Management - Ida De Felice
Based in Viareggio Italy (specialise in Viareggio, Tuscany, Liguria)
Italy situation is very similar to the French situation
The situation is changing week by week and so what is being said now can change by Monday
Most of the yachts arriving in Italy are coming from EU countries or Schengen area
The only clearance documents that are required (additional to normal) is the health free pratique which is required by the Italian Health Authority at least at 24 hours before the arrival of the of the yacht in an Italian port
Yachts coming from outside of Schengen area and EU countries are required to quarantine
Quarantine can be done onboard the yacht and cannot be avoided by doing a COVID test because it's not provided by the law so even if we make the COVID test and it is negative quarantine must be done on board
Health free pratique must be requested at least 24 hours before arrival and special information must be sent to the Italian Authority in order for them to start their health surveillance and the voluntary isolation and quarantine
Apart from this, yachts in Italy can move and cruise inside the Italian Coast without any obstruction they just need to make the standard clearances for pleasure and commercial yachts
If a crew member needs to join the yacht, if they are coming from outside the EU or Schengen Area, a Schengen Visa is not required, but the person must have a letter of invitation by the captain/owner and they will only accept it for working purposes (not pleasure). The crew member can be refused authorisation to enter Italy at the airport
When they arrive in Italy, they must have 14 days of quarantine (suggested) to do in an apartment and not on board
If they quarantine on board, the captain needs to assume responsibility that this person does not have any contact with anyone on board. This person must be closed in the room and stay there for two weeks
All the crew members must pass the quarantine
Contact your ship agent before arriving in port to ensure you have the latest advice because the regulations can change from Viareggio to Naples to Venice to Genoa (each region has different regulations)
Crew and guests need to respect the social distancing of 1.8 m and need to wear masks and gloves
Access to the shops will be restricted to a certain number and wait for people to exit if full
Recommended to book time in the shop or restaurant because the situation in Italy is still a stricter and people are still afraid and so we suggest for people to have a 'kit' on them with gloves, masks, because some people might have an argument with them or they might not be allowed to enter the shops
The government offices are still working from home and the clearances can be slow so there can be delays to issue authorisations and to have a response from authorities
I think that the crew member can rent a car but it's possible to use the crew car with only three inside (the driver two people in the back seat) with masks
Sardinia also has its own requirements so again, check with the different regions
Contact the maritime Authority or ship agent at least 24 hours before arrival because it's possible to get a fine of you enter in port incorrectly
Questions
If the boat is based in Spain but you have another flag (for this question the boat is based in Spain but it is UK flagged), is it considered a Schengen or not a Schengen boat?
A: Most of the countries are putting restriction depending on where the boat comes from (the country of origin or last port of call), it does not matter about the flag. To consider whether the boat will be allowed in or not will depend on where it has been before.
Can you transit through another "safe" country that you are allowed in first before arriving in a Schengen port?
A: Italy – asks for last 10 ports of call so if you have come from Turkey before it is considered as coming from outside of the EU
What are the rules in Tunisia to get the boat exported out of the EU?
56:40
Tunisia
Yann Pratt:
Borders will be open on 27 June
Yachts allowed to enter Tunisian marinas for touch-and-go for short stay to bunker and to get provisions
Crew, guests and owners that are not allowed to go on shore for the time being
Before 27 June, Tunisian government will give more details about procedures and processes related to crew and guests going ashore
Contact the Tunisian office after 27 June
If crew have a passport that is not from a country on the entry list but have been on board the yacht during the quarantine time how would that work, how would that crew member be classified (by where you are coming from or by your passport?
A: Rosemary has asked the Greek govt to clarify
Yann Pratt: Every country is different and it is best to contact your agent in the port the boat is based
If EU charter guests are coming to France, do they have to show where they have been for the last 14 days?
Lorenzo: No. If you are coming from a Schengen or EU country they assume that you are ok. Guests can easily go and enjoy their charter
Yann: 1 July – expect rules to change in a positive way so contact local contacts from 1 July. We expect to finally start the season and get back to normality.
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