Registering a sailboat in Portugal

[marsbar]

I’m a Uk citizen but have Portuguese residency. I thinking of buying a certain sailboat. The boat is EU vat paid and has Belgium registration which the current owner will have to cancel if he sells. I would like to register it in Portugal as that is now where I live . Does anyone know how easy, difficult or expensive this would be? Has anyone had first hand experience of this? Any help, advice welcome.

 

[Graham376]

Many Portuguese would like to be registered elsewhere due to the bureaucracy, some tried Dutch and after that was stopped, Poland seems to be the current flavour. In Portugal, mandatory surveys by Maritime Authority and mandatory safety equipment also, they tell you what distance you can sail off the coast, depending on classification of boat. To register, you will need the paperwork trail for the boat from new including proof VAT has been paid.

If you can appear to meet the residency rule for UK registration, I would go for SSR.

 

[Rwc13]

I went through the process of registering a boat in Portugal about 12 months ago. You now do this via the BMar website and the boat is then subject to an inspection by the Capitania of the Marina nearest to where the boat is kept. Not particularly expensive, but time consuming as the requirements for documentation in BMar are extensive and the website not terribly user friendly. More recently I registered a boat here in Poland. Simpler and much less time consuming, and the equipment requirements are much more in line with what is actually useful to have on board for coastal use. Also, no need for inspection.

 

[marsbar]

I went through the process of registering a boat in Portugal about 12 months ago. You now do this via the BMar website and the boat is then subject to an inspection by the Capitania of the Marina nearest to where the boat is kept. Not particularly expensive, but time consuming as the requirements for documentation in BMar are extensive and the website not terribly user friendly. More recently I registered a boat here in Poland. Simpler and much less time consuming, and the equipment requirements are much more in line with what is actually useful to have on board for coastal use. Also, no need for inspection.

Yes , the Polish registration is popular at the moment. I see they do commercial registration for the same price.
If in the future I wanted to do day charter for instance would the Portuguese allow a foreign flagged vessel for this or would they insist on Portuguese registration?

 

[Rwc13]

I have it on good authority that you can only charter a Portuguese registered boat in Portugal

 

[Graham376]

I have it on good authority that you can only charter a Portuguese registered boat in Portugal

An acquaintance with a UK coded power boat was refused permission to operate as charter but I have seen sailing school boats with red duster so not sure of the position.

 

[V1701]

I sold a UK registered boat in Portugal to a Portuguese national last year, last I heard he went for Polish as it was far easier. Old boat, one of the main sticking points was that it wasn't recorded anywhere what the maximum number of people that could be carried aboard was...

 

[nortada]

Get a UK address and register on the SSR? Of course, if you have broken all ties with the UK, this could be difficult.

Will UK insurers insurer a foreign flagged vessel?

 

[greeny]

I sold my SSR boat to a local Portuguese man last year. He put it onto the Portuguese register. The boat was originally vat paid in France so that wasn't an issue for them. No Brexit complications fortunately.
He registered it Class 3 and that meant the inspection couldn't be done by local inspectors in the Algarve and a Lisbon inspector had to be scheduled to come down and do it. As far as I know that was the only time issue he had, it just took a few weeks longer than had he put it on a lower class.
Other issues for him were that the radio and AIS unit were both issued new "numbers". Callsign and MMSI.
This entailed him returning the radio to supplier for a re code.
The AIS unit we were able to reset and re enter the new number.
The epirb then became an issue and they said it needed recoding. Because it was due a service and battery change, he decided to scrap it and buy a new one. Not much difference in price.
Nortada - I had this ssr boat insured here in Portugal with a local insurance agent and there was no problem getting it with them. I never had to make a claim from them though. So he could just insure locally whatever he does registration wise I would think. Worth checking though.

 

[greeny]

An interesting article by Martin Northney. Explains most of the things about importing to Portugal.
Importing a boat into Portugal

 

[WF36]

I had this ssr boat insured here in Portugal with a local insurance agent and there was no problem getting it with them.

Did the same with an SSR RIB also insured with a local company, but that was a few years ago.

 

[Graham376]

I had this ssr boat insured here in Portugal with a local insurance agent and there was no problem getting it with them. I never had to make a claim from them though. So he could just insure locally whatever he does registration wise I would think. Worth checking though.

When was that, before or after 31/12? This September I asked the broker who we insure car with if he could quote for our boat insurance and he said he could no longer cover UK boats. I do know of several local boats who are still insured via him.

 

[Graham376]

An interesting article by Martin Northney. Explains most of the things about importing to Portugal.
Importing a boat into Portugal

I've been looking at costs for a mate who's considering buying an old 34 ft powerboat in UK and transporting to Portugal and trying to talk him out of it. Being resident, TA doesn't apply so, 25% VAT and duty, £8k - £10k transport cost and then rcd compliance which could entail new engines to meet current emission regs.

 

[greeny]

When was that, before or after 31/12? This September I asked the broker who we insure car with if he could quote for our boat insurance and he said he could no longer cover UK boats. I do know of several local boats who are still insured via him.

I sold the boat in April this year 2021 and stopped the insurance at that time. November was the renewal date and it had been insured with them for the previous 2 years. Prior to that it was with UK insurers.

 

[greeny]

I've been looking at costs for a mate who's considering buying an old 34 ft powerboat in UK and transporting to Portugal and trying to talk him out of it. Being resident, TA doesn't apply so, 25% VAT and duty, £8k - £10k transport cost and then rcd compliance which could entail new engines to meet current emission regs.

Surely the cost of transport, vat, import tax at 2% and then the hassle and cost of portuguese inspections would be enough to make him see sense. Never mind the threat of new engines.
I've just bought an small ssr sailing boat here and being resident intend to put it on the Pt register. Hopefully I can avoid the vat with the original receipt and proof it was here on B day. I'll still have to pay the 2 % import though along with inspection costs. Not too bad overall. Boat was a reasonable price to buy and it's what I wanted.

 

[Sepharad]

When the Registrar at the Captinea office said "only crazy people register their boats in Portugal", I asked why. When she explained the multiple and ongoing issues with a Portuguese registry, including AGE BASED restrictions and requirements, I listened to her.

 

[srm]

Will UK insurers insurer a foreign flagged vessel?

Don't know but my Portuguese insurance broker has done me very affordable 3rd party cover on my UK reg boat. However, an Australian friend found Pat. . . .us (sorry not sure of spelling) expensive for his Aussie reg catamaran so on renewal took him to my brokers. Even cheaper than mine as a smaller engine. However, only covered in Portugal - we did not enquire for further away as not needed at moment.

As to PT registration - advice I have had from locals with PT registrations is DONT.

 

[greeny]

Don't know but my Portuguese insurance broker has done me very affordable 3rd party cover on my UK reg boat. However, an Australian friend found Pat. . . .us (sorry not sure of spelling) expensive for his Aussie reg catamaran so on renewal took him to my brokers. Even cheaper than mine as a smaller engine. However, only covered in Portugal - we did not enquire for further away as not needed at moment.

As to PT registration - advice I have had from locals with PT registrations is DONT.

I didn't. I stayed SSR. My RIB is Portuguese registered and I came to my senses before changing the veleiro over.