Home / For international owners / Cruising
Shipping a yacht by freighter: who is liable during loading and at sea?
Short answer
Many long distance cruisers ship their yacht home or to a new cruising ground.
The carrier's liability is usually limited.
What matters is whether your own boat insurance extends to transport on a freighter and how well
the condition and loading are documented.
Back to Europe after an Atlantic circuit, from the Caribbean to the Pacific or straight into the Mediterranean: rather than sail across an ocean, many owners ship their yacht. It travels in a steel cradle on the deck of a freighter or floats into a semi submersible dock ship. Loading is done by the ship's or the port's crane, and at sea straps and supports hold the boat. Most damage happens while lifting and setting down, or when the ship works in heavy weather.
The carrier is normally liable only under the contract of carriage and maritime law, and both often cap liability well below the value of a yacht. Ask your insurer in good time whether your boat insurance extends to carriage on a freighter, whether it has to be notified and whether an extension is needed. Ask the carrier as well what transit insurance they offer and what it excludes. If the carrier declares general average, your yacht can be asked to contribute to the costs.
Prepare the boat to the carrier's instructions: stow loose gear below, remove the sprayhood and bimini, take the sails off, disconnect the batteries, bring the tanks down to a low level and lower or secure the mast as agreed. Photograph the boat all round with the date before loading and have the condition confirmed on the carrier's receipt. Sort out customs and VAT status at the destination beforehand, so the yacht is not held in port when she arrives.
Worth remembering
Carrier's liability
limited by contract and maritime law
Value of the yacht
often many times higher
Before shipping, find out which insurance really carries the voyage.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Is the carrier liable for damage to my yacht?
Only under the contract of carriage and maritime law, where liability is usually tightly limited. It rarely matches the yacht's full value.
Does my boat insurance apply on the freighter?
That depends on the policy. Ask before shipping whether it is included, needs notifying or needs an extension.
How do I record the condition before loading?
Dated photos all round, close ups of hull, keel and rudder, and the carrier's signed receipt noting the condition.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Shipping a yacht by freighter: who is liable during loading and at sea?” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
Was this useful?
