Leaving Croatia on Croatian flag vessel

[Jack2607]

Hi All

After some advice re leaving Croatian waters on my Croatian flagged boat. The Yacht is commercially registered with navigational area iia listed (12nm from land).

My questions are, what documents will I need to show customs on departure ? I read a lot that Croatian authority can be strict and want to make sure we have everything in order before departure to limit delay.

Also as the yacht is certified to nav area iia (12nm from land) will this cause a problem leaving to go offshore.

Any advice from someone who has dealt with this would be greatly appreciated. I have not checked out of a country as skipper before so lack knowledge in this area.

 

[alexsailor]

Uf... Two things matter: Nav. area certified and how many persons (skipper, crew?) are needed to operate SY. This is written in the ships document.
Sometimes it stands two persons.
I am not sure that they will let you go offshore if you have only coastal (12NM) certificate.
Try a police dock near your berth so you'll know where you are.
Or go to Cavtat, last port of entry before Montenegro and say you are going to Budva, Montenegro but then head to Italy, Greece or whereever you are going...

But you have to show two papers: Boravištna taksa (sojourn tax) and "naknada za sigurnost plovidbe" (kind of a cruising tax). Those two papers are needed and are regularly checked when cruising croatian waters or when entering/leaving them.

 

[nortada]

Hi Alex,

Welcome to the forum.

What are your long-term plans? Are you quitting Croatia for good?

As I being naive?

If you sail out of Croatian waters, you sail out of Croatian jurisdiction so I would take down Croatian flag, hoist the British ensign and become a Master under God.

Not too sure what would happen at the other end?

If you have a UK address you could register on the SSR, renounce your Croatian flag - now all legal. What's there not to like?

 

[Jack2607]

Thanks for the advise.

We will be coming back to Croatia next summer as we run charters, hence the need for commercial registration. So would rather not go through the process of changing to UK flag as next year with brexit etc will be a lot harder to obtain a charter license when back in Croatia.

we will just be taking the boat to the caribbean for winter cruising.

 

[nortada]

Thanks for the advise.

We will be coming back to Croatia next summer as we run charters, hence the need for commercial registration. So would rather not go through the process of changing to UK flag as next year with brexit etc will be a lot harder to obtain a charter license when back in Croatia.

we will just be taking the boat to the caribbean for winter cruising.

My plan just sunk without trace.

Best of luck with your adventure.

 

[Jack2607]

My plan sunk without trace.

Best of luck with your adventure.

Thank you.
Appreciate the help nonetheless ?

 

[Metabarca]

I suspect (but I cannot put hand on heart) that if you sail out of the end of Croatia, as Alexsailor says, and head off and then come back next year via Montenegro without making it obvious you've been elsewhere, then no problem. The problem arises ... if a problem arises while offshore and an incident of whatever sort is 'officialise'. This is the scenario I can be confident of in Italy; I doubt Croatia is very different but checking is always best!

 

[tgpt21]

Hi All

After some advice re leaving Croatian waters on my Croatian flagged boat. The Yacht is commercially registered with navigational area iia listed (12nm from land).

My questions are, what documents will I need to show customs on departure ? I read a lot that Croatian authority can be strict and want to make sure we have everything in order before departure to limit delay.

Also as the yacht is certified to nav area iia (12nm from land) will this cause a problem leaving to go offshore.

Any advice from someone who has dealt with this would be greatly appreciated. I have not checked out of a country as skipper before so lack knowledge in this area.

I had this very problem in 2018. I had changed flag to pay VAT when Croatia in 2013. I wanted to leave Croatia and take up a berth in Ancona and save myself E2000 in marina fees and halved my insurance costs. My intention was to leave Croatia under Croatian flag and arrive in Italy under the red ensign. I had applied for and received the same SSR number I had in 2013.
As it turned out, I was refused exit because my boat was limited to coastal waters. I told the harbourmaster (with some trepidation given the overlap in registration) of my intentions.
" Oh", says he, You have the UK registration, do you have a UK ensign?"
"Yes", says I.
"OK, I will cancel your Croatian registration and book you in as arriving today under UK flag. You pay your taxes for the UK flagged boat. Then I'll book you out. Have a good crossing"
I returned to my boat, run up the red ensign and buggered off before he changed his mind.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I exported my Croatian flagged boat in 2011 from Split on the day I bought it .... they weren't interested in any crew qualifications or anything, the boat was a Bavaria 36 from 1999 and we sailed off with the Croatian flag flying form the boat - but it had been struck from the Croatian register. Once out at sea we changed the identity to UK - (swapped ensigns and renamed the boat) - SSR registration was already completed before export.

I guess the problem you have is not with the boat but the Croatian registration - only two option IMO are to see if you can change the Croatian registration to offshore if possible (which may involve a load more kit on board) ... or do as tgpt21 and strike it from the Croatian register - might make getting back in to charter a problem though.