Big Brother growing in the Med

[centaursailor]

The best cruising ground in Europe has more new rules.
Sail-World.com : Mediterranean inspection warning this season: yachts are included
Any one planning a visit should check this out,
Safe sailing

[lickingcardboard]

well i guess the Med is off my float Plan.

[Zanshin]

If one actually looks at the letter of the EU directives, one sees

"2. Where the gross tonnage of a ship is less than 500,
Member States shall apply those requirements of a relevant
Convention which are applicable and shall, to the extent that
a Convention does not apply, take such action as may be
necessary to ensure that the ships concerned are not clearly
hazardous to safety, health or the environment. In applying
this paragraph, Member States shall be guided by Annex 1 to
the Paris MOU."

and most importantly in Article 3, item 4:

"4. Fishing vessels, warships, naval auxiliaries, wooden ships
of a primitive build, government ships used for non-commercial
purposes and pleasure yachts not engaged in trade shall be
excluded from the scope of this Directive."

The sail world article makes references to megayachts that fall under the IMO due to their size or usage.


Addendum : Here is the URL to the letter of the law: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...57:0100:EN:PDF

[centaursailor]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

If one actually looks at the letter of the EU directives, one sees

"2. Where the gross tonnage of a ship is less than 500,
Member States shall apply those requirements of a relevant
Convention which are applicable and shall, to the extent that
a Convention does not apply, take such action as may be
necessary to ensure that the ships concerned are not clearly
hazardous to safety, health or the environment. In applying
this paragraph, Member States shall be guided by Annex 1 to
the Paris MOU."

and most importantly in Article 3, item 4:

"4. Fishing vessels, warships, naval auxiliaries, wooden ships
of a primitive build, government ships used for non-commercial
purposes and pleasure yachts not engaged in trade shall be
excluded from the scope of this Directive."

The sail world article makes references to megayachts that fall under the IMO due to their size or usage.


Addendum : Here is the URL to the letter of the law: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...57:0100:EN:PDF

Not sure we are reading the same article, random inspections have always taken place in European waters of small private yachts, now it appears this will be a expanded to ensure all yachts will be checked on entry.

From the article:
The Paris MoU applies to everyone, commercial or private, regardless of tonnage. Everyone has always been subject to inspection by the mere fact of having entered the waters of another country.

With the Paris MoU, however, all vessels entering the region are targeted to be inspected in order create a history in the database. Once a vessel is in the system, depending on the outcome of the initial inspection and the flag it flies, the vessel may not be subject to inspection again for up to 36 months.

Safe sailing

[Zanshin]

Centaursailor - Inspections of pleasure vessels have been performed for years, but not IMO inspections according to the Paris MOU, as is stated clearly in the law. Each member state can (and does) inspect vessels and this won't change.

I've heard about these inspections elsewhere and also remembered reading that pleasure boats not subject to IMO reporting are exempt so I decided to research the matter. The magazine article, while not making up facts, certainly misrepresents them, in my opinion.

Note that the quote and link I supplied is from the Paris MoU; I'll take that at face value rather than an article from a magazine. If you go to the Paris MoU pages and try to search you'll see that pleasure vessels aren't included, and I randomly chose 3 months of detention lists and didn't find a single vessel under 500 tons. I tried the inspection page for any vessels under 30 tons and also came up with 7 (one of them was an oil tanker) which slipped into that category by mistake. Not a single pleasure boat or sailboat or yacht.
Try Inspection database search

Note that the Triton is a publication for commercial vessels and that the sail world article was reprinted from there.

[centaursailor]

Fair enough, lets hope you are right.
I,m heading for the Med when I get the gold watch and can do without any more red tape.
Safe sailing

[PCP]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

If one actually looks at the letter of the EU directives, one sees

"2. Where the gross tonnage of a ship is less than 500,
Member States shall apply those requirements of a relevant
Convention which are applicable and shall, to the extent that
a Convention does not apply, take such action as may be
necessary to ensure that the ships concerned are not clearly
hazardous to safety, health or the environment. In applying
this paragraph, Member States shall be guided by Annex 1 to
the Paris MOU."

and most importantly in Article 3, item 4:

"4. Fishing vessels, warships, naval auxiliaries, wooden ships
of a primitive build, government ships used for non-commercial
purposes and pleasure yachts not engaged in trade shall be
excluded from the scope of this Directive."

...

A charter boat is not a pleasure yacht engaged in trade?

Regards

Paulo

[Zanshin]

I think that trade, in the scope of the MoU, means the transport of cargo and not chartering. I couldn't find the definition, but when "engaged in trade" is mentioned regarding ships all the references I could find meant transport of goods.

[AlexHallMalta]

Hi,
Having run a 32m yacht in the Med for some 15 years, can confirm that this rule applies to commercial vessels in trade. However a new regulation issued this year will also apply to yachts, both private or charter, with tonnage in excess of 200 metric tons. So any cruising yacht entering from most countries outside the Eu will be initially given clearance, sometimes with a small inspection most times without. No big brother issues with yachting movments yet, especially with the small ones. In the US any foreign flagged yacht of whatever size must call the CBP in advance of its movements when travelling between one port and another! The issuance of the CBP decal allows more freedom within various zones, but if going from one state to another calls have to be placed within 24hrs before/after arrival.