Important - Attention All Foreign Flagged
Message: 27
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:35:24 -0800
From: Mike Maurice mikem@yachtsdelivered.com
Subject: Re: T&T: Important - Attention All Foreign Flagged
Cruising
To: TT trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Message-ID: 47ACAEFC.8040107@yachtsdelivered.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Mike
Here is what one looks like:
Note the wording in the first paragraph. Makes it sound like you
should be able to come and go as you please.
The wording in the first paragraph has virtually nothing to do with you
once you have the cruising license.
It is the second paragraph that is the gotcha. Whereas you don't have
to
make FORMAL entry, which would be the case if you did not have the
Cruising License, the second paragraph is quite explicit that you have
to REPORT at every port. It is the lax enforcement of this provision
that leads to the misunderstanding about the consequences.
In some districts the requirement to REPORT is only being enforced when
you first ENTER the district. In other cases they may require you to
report every MOVEMENT. Since this is at the discretion of the district
supervisor and based upon security issues at the time, you can get
afoul
of this by not taking care, to abide by the instructions you get when
you report in.
And of course if you don't report in with each district, well you are
in
real trouble. And, once you have not reported in, anywhere you have
actually been, it is laid in concrete and you can't wiggle out of it.
Technically you have to check out before leaving the country and at
that
time, all this may come to someone's attention.
Keep in mind that I did not think this all up and have no control or
even any influence on how this is being enforced.
Mike
My point was that the two paragraphs could seem to contradict each other.
The first one states:
"To all Port Directors of Customs: From (date to date) the Cayman Islands Motor Yacht (insert yacht name) belonging to (insert owners name) whether PROCEEDING COASTWISE, or arriving from or departing for a foreign port, shall be permitted to arrive at and depart from ANY port in the United States WITHOUT entering or clearing,..........."
That is the way it used to be interpreted around here anyway. That you could move from port to port freely without checking in at every port once you had your cruising license.
Now they are enforcing paragraph two:
"Upon arrival at each port or place in the United States, the master shall report the fact of the arrival to the designated Customs officer at the nearest port of entry."
"Keep in mind that I did not think this all up and have no control or
even any influence on how this is being enforced."
I doubt anyone does think that. :-)
Capt. Bill
Capt Bill,
The key words here are 'entering or clearing' and 'reporting' .
'Entering or clearing' is what has to be done when arriving from a foreign
port. 'Reporting' is what has to be done when moving from port to port or
place to place.
What is unclear is how to report. Can it be done by VHF radio? Is a phone
call the only way? Can it be done by dropping a postcard in the mail? What
about anchoring where there is no phone service? How big is a port? How
far does the boat have to move to be in a new place? If all this is
difficult for those speaking US English to understand, what about those who
speak another language?
Larry H
----- Original Message -----
Mike
Here is what one looks like:
Note the wording in the first paragraph. Makes it sound like you
should be able to come and go as you please.
The wording in the first paragraph has virtually nothing to do with you
once you have the cruising license.
It is the second paragraph that is the gotcha. Whereas you don't have
to
make FORMAL entry, which would be the case if you did not have the
Cruising License, the second paragraph is quite explicit that you have
to REPORT at every port. It is the lax enforcement of this provision
that leads to the misunderstanding about the consequences.
In some districts the requirement to REPORT is only being enforced when
you first ENTER the district. In other cases they may require you to
report every MOVEMENT. Since this is at the discretion of the district
supervisor and based upon security issues at the time, you can get
afoul
of this by not taking care, to abide by the instructions you get when
you report in.
And of course if you don't report in with each district, well you are
in
real trouble. And, once you have not reported in, anywhere you have
actually been, it is laid in concrete and you can't wiggle out of it.
Technically you have to check out before leaving the country and at
that
time, all this may come to someone's attention.
Keep in mind that I did not think this all up and have no control or
even any influence on how this is being enforced.
Mike
My point was that the two paragraphs could seem to contradict each other.
The first one states:
"To all Port Directors of Customs: From (date to date) the Cayman Islands
Motor Yacht (insert yacht name) belonging to (insert owners name) whether
PROCEEDING COASTWISE, or arriving from or departing for a foreign port,
shall be permitted to arrive at and depart from ANY port in the United
States WITHOUT entering or clearing,..........."
That is the way it used to be interpreted around here anyway. That you
could move from port to port freely without checking in at every port once
you had your cruising license.
Now they are enforcing paragraph two:
"Upon arrival at each port or place in the United States, the master
shall report the fact of the arrival to the designated Customs officer at
the nearest port of entry."
"Keep in mind that I did not think this all up and have no control or
even any influence on how this is being enforced."
I doubt anyone does think that. :-)
Capt. Bill
Long, and quite possibly boring.
In my former life I made many entries into the US from foreign
countries. All passengers were required to complete 'entry forms'
most of which were formatted so as to guarantee the greatest possible
exposure to errors.
The customs personnel were not happy with the errors and their
solution to the problem was to threaten the skipper with a thousand
dollar fine for each error, for as always, the captain is responsible
for the passengers (and their mistakes).
There was never any effort to reformat or correct these egregiously
developed forms and as a result often more than half of them
contained innocent errors. The threat of one or two hundred thousand
dollars in fines (which would be personally borne by the captain)
several times a month concentrates the mind wonderfully. As a result,
perusing several hundred entry forms for errors (for years on end)
came to seem an acceptable chore when shared among the crew.
The point of this anecdote? Customs and immigration officers in any
country are just the operational tip of a great bureaucratic iceberg.
They have little more influence with the head office than any other
taxpayer, but they are duty-bound to enforce the regs and local rules
whether they like them or not.
If they are regarded as fellow-sufferers under the yoke of
regulation and treated as such life for all becomes much easier.
Terry
Tamarack
My point was that the two paragraphs could seem to contradict each
other.
The first one states:
"To all Port Directors of Customs: From (date to date) the Cayman
Islands Motor Yacht (insert yacht name) belonging to (insert owners
name) whether PROCEEDING COASTWISE, or arriving from or departing for
a foreign port, shall be permitted to arrive at and depart from ANY
port in the United States WITHOUT entering or clearing,..........."
Bill,
You have to get it straight. The first paragraph has to do with FORMAL
entry, which has nothing to do with REPORTING. These are 2 separate
processes. You have confused them. There never was any connection with
the 2.
REPORTING is not ENTERING or CLEARING.
Entering is a paperwork process where you import the boat, clearing is
the process of having it inspected. Reporting is where you let them know
where you are.
Believe me, there is no confusion by the Customs people. Only the
yachtsmen think there is some contradiction. The major reason for the
confusion is that hardly anyone comes here to cruise without the
License, because the hassle of ENTERING and CLEARING at every port or
perhaps district is so huge that no one has any experience at it.
In other words, hardly anyone has ever been subjected to this, period.
I can see a foreign cruiser coming to Alaska, formally clearing and
entering, not getting a Cruising License and getting permission to
wander around, from the District Supervisor, in Alaska, and then leaving
(formal clearing out), without going to another district. I can't
imagine doing this at very many districts.
You have to keep in mind that there is even more to all this and I don't
have time to write a book about it. The bottom line is that things have
not changed a lot, but Customs is being a little more methodical about
enforcing the reporting requirement.
Regards,
Mike
Capt. Mike Maurice
Beaverton Oregon(Near Portland)