About a week or two ago I posted on the Buy Sell Trade forum a notice
about some free documentation about International Yacht Transporting by
ship that I was writing. The research that has gone into the report has
caused me to draw a conclusion: things are changing rapidly in this arena.

A brief summary follows.

The Dockwise float on/off Yacht transport business may be sold off as a
separate company, from the larger commercial operation.

Sevenstar is not well known on the US West Coast, but is expanding and
was bought up by the Spliethoff shipping company based in the
Netherlands sometime in the last few years. This purchase seems to have
improved their service record and that more improvements are in the works.

Sevenstar would appear to be the key player to keep an eye on as the
clients who have used them tell me that if you can be flexible about the
timing and where the boat is picked up and dropped that the price to
ship can be exceedingly affordable. They have what seems to be the
largest fleet of ships(100+) to book on, but this is a crane lift on/off
system, not like the Dockwise float on/off system.

There are Web URLs that are rather similar to the authentic web sites
and to which you might accidentally click on.

How all these changes will play out is difficult to tell; considering
the state of the world economy. This is going to impact delivery
captains, and I think the days of long distance deliveries on the
yacht's own bottom are going to become a historical footnote.

By the way, I don't have any financial involvement with any of the firms
in the industry. I just got tired of answering questions over the phone
and decided to create a written analysis.

The report is about 4 pages in length, is free and strictly a technical
analysis.

Regards,

Capt. Mike Maurice
Portland, Oregon.

Mike,

I have shipped my boat via Dockwise, Sevenstar, and Yachtpath.

Both Dockwise and Sevenstar were terrific experiences, and I would recommend
them.

With Yachtpath, I am just wrapping up three years of litigation, and as you
can guess, I'm less enthusiastic about endorsing Yachtpath. That said, my
situation was unique to my boat, and I do know others who have been
successful with Yachtpath (and, others who have had similar experiences to
mine).

Overall, I am a fan of shipping the boat on long passages. When the total
cost of running the boat on its own bottom is computed (delivery crew, fuel,
maintenance, etc) the cost is essentially the same, and your boat arrives in
perfect shape, ready to go. For me, the biggest problem has been that the
pickup and delivery dates are always a bit soft, and it can make the
logistics difficult.

-Ken Williams
N6805, Sans Souci