Port of Registration if SSR?

[david36]

At non UK ports one is always asked for the yacht's "Port of Registration" or similar. What do you put if you are on the SSR? Some friends put any port in UK they fancy, others Cardiff as that is where the SSR computer "lives", others use their last UK base. Is there a technically right answer?

 

[snowleopard]

as the only location mentioned on the certificate is Cardiff, that's the safest bet. what you are really concerned with in a foreign port is avoiding the situation where the official thinks you are falsifying information.

it can happen easily enough, for example when two boats are clearing in together, both british, and one is part 1 registered, the other part 3. one customs man was convinced my ssr certificate was a fake.

 

[DaveNTL]

don't worry about it - i have 'Old Trafford' as my home port, and i didnt even specify if it was the cricket ground or uniteds /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

my forum nickname name might give you a clue but it's lost on the US coast guard

 

[peter1]

I don't believe that there is a technically correct answer as the SSR system was not designed for this level of detail. As I understand it the SSR is only intended to provide a simple form of registration which satisfies the needs of the EU bureaucrats for a means of vessel identification. In my travels to several EU countries I have never had my "Port of Registry" challenged (I use my UK address, Bristol). However if you are not the first owner of the boat, do make sure that whatever you choose it tallies with the port name, if any, on your transom.

 

[boatmike]

I agree but the problem comes about mostly at ports outside the EU. Here I think Snowleopard is entirely right. You can point at the name "Cardiff" to a numbskull in the Caribbean and he will accept it. EU bureaucracy can pale into insignificance compared to elsewhere in the world believe me!

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Do the UK ports apply so much crap to our foreign friends who come to visit us?

Does a Spanish boat get treated the same as a UK boat when entering France.

Is this an anti UK thing, or is it just petty little men with nothing better to do in the harbour offices.


P.s. I hope this counts as a bit boaty, I don't want to get into trouble with the forum police!

 

[peter1]

Absolutely agree with regard to non EU ports. Keep the logic simple. Cardiff looks like the best bet in these circumstances.

But returning to the original question "Is there a technically right answer?" I don't think there is one.

 

[snowleopard]

the general rule seems to be-

france and north - no paperwork but occasional customs spot checks

spain/portugal - fill in massive forms in every port to give the officials something to justify their pay

caribbean - full entry & departure formalities on each island but nothing in between

USA - visa required before arrival, 3rd degree and risk of jail/deportation for any slight error.

i'm sure others can give us the lowdown on pacific/indian ocean countries.

if you think brits have a hard time of it, think how south africans have had it in the past and even today i believe.

 

[TerryG]

I think it is best to state somewhere everybody has heard of ie: London

 

[mithril]

Make it somewhere they will have heard of.

That was my idea also so I used Harwich from which Ferries head towards the Baltic. In visited 10 countries and they had all heard of Harwich, they could read across the transom and all were happy.