While travelling overland in Asia I began to think about bringing my sailing boat, Zamindar, back across the Atlantic to Europe. I'd sailed her across to Brazil with some friends a few years before, and then sailed up to the Caribbean and onto the USA. Hurricane season, of course, arrived, and so I laid her up in Florida and flew back to Europe. I returned at the beginning of the next season and cruised the Bahamas, but again, however, hurricane season arrived too soon. This season I'd spent in Asia, and Zamindar was so far away that I'd only been on board once or twice that year, so it felt like I needed to get her back to Europe so that I could spend more time on her. So I looked at my options. By the time I got back from Asia it would be winter in the North Atlantic and I would have to wait until spring for the weather to improve if I planned to sail her across. Additionally, the people I would want as crew were too busy to take time off for the crossing. Hence, I began to look into the costs and different options for shipping a boat across the Atlantic.
After some research it became clear that the main choice for shipping comes down to using either a normal cargo ship which your yacht is craned onto, or a dedicated yacht carrier, many of which are semi-submersible and offer a sail-on, sail-off type service.
With the cargo ship option, a cradle is made for your boat to sit in, and it is carried on deck in just the same way as normal cargo. This does of course represent a higher risk of damage to the vessel, either during the lifting process or due to someone on board the ship breaking in for a look inside. Additionally, the vessel may accumulate rust stains from the nearby shipping containers. Neither way is risk-free, however, and I hoped that shipping by this method might be substantially cheaper so I made some calls and got some prices. Many owners choose to ship their vessels in this manner, and in addition to having a large choice of routes and sailings, the shipping itself is cheaper than using a dedicated carrier. It's a requirement of sending cargo by ship that you have a shipping agent, some of whom specialise in shipping boats. There are, however, many other charges which can quickly accrue in using this method. Apart from the cradle construction, the vessel has to be craned out of the water. Most ports have no problem doing this, however, it can cost around $1000US at either end depending on which ports it is. This fee can be saved, however, by having the vessel lifted from the water onto a truck in a nearby marina, and then trucked to the cargo area of the port. Due to our 4m breadth, however, we were told that this would require trucking permits and an escort in the US, which would amount to much more than the trucking costs itself. At the other end, when the vessel arrived in Europe, the same thing could be done and the boat could be taken to a nearby marina, however, trucking can be more expensive in Europe than the USA. Another requirement for cargo ships is that the mast must be dropped, which is a further cost to consider. After adding all of these additional charges, shipping the traditional way wasn't looking quite so attractive.
So I looked into shipping with a dedicated yacht carrier. One of the large companies that do this is Dockwise. Their semi-submersible ships carry about twenty yachts in a trip, and they have a choice of worldwide routes and sailing dates. You provide them with blueprints or drawings of your boat, they prepare a place on the ship for it, the ship sinks several metres, and you simply motor on. Once your boat is in position, divers secure stands in place and the water is pumped out, refloating the ship. Crew then weld steel supports in place around your hull and the process is repeated at the other end. Dockwise quoted me $9000US for a 39 foot boat, for shipping from Fort Lauderdale to Palma, Mallorca, a similar price to what it would have worked out if I was using a cargo ship. The cost apparently would have been cheaper, around $7000US, during low season, which, from Florida or the Caribbean to Europe would be in the autumn. The price included everything except shipping insurance, which I arranged through my own broker, and this came to around $300US. The mast did not have to be dropped, another big advantage for us. It is possible to travel with your boat, and although I was told from the agent that this was only the case if the vessel was over 80 feet, I discovered during the loading procedure that it would have been no problem at all to have stayed. Other people with similar sized boats to mine were staying for the crossing and the ship's crew asked me to stay. If you travel with the ship, you normally stay on board your own vessel for the duration, though a limited number of cabins are available and free of charge. All food is also provided in the price and meals are eaten with the crew in the ship's mess at set times during the crossing.
The Dockwise agents in Fort Lauderdale were certainly not as helpful as they could have been. I had originally contacted them in August for a quote and a possible shipping date but it took them two months to reply to my email. By this time I was too late to go on their October shipping, which would have been cheaper. Instead I had to wait for the next sailing in February. One day in January I was looking at their website and noticed that there was a shipping leaving for Europe the following week. I had spoken to them a couple of days before this and they were aware that I was waiting for the next shipping across the Atlantic, but had not bothered to tell me about this one. I called them and they told me there was plenty of space on the sailing, and I almost signed up for it, but I wasn't sure if I could make it to Fort Lauderdale at such short notice. Instead I continued waiting for the February shipping to Toulon in France. I completed the contracts and transferred the funds, then called them to ask if they'd received everything and if the ship was still running to schedule. In response they told me that the shipping date had been moved forward by more than a week and was leaving in seven days! I was in Europe at this time, and again, due to their lack of communication, after waiting for months, it was impossible for me to get to Florida in time to meet the ship. I was forced to take the March sailing to Palma, Mallorca, and I called the Dockwise office several times a week from then on to make sure that there hadn't been a change of schedule. A couple of weeks prior to the shipping date I flew over to Florida with a friend and we sailed down to Port Everglades where the ship was. The loading was delayed another day but by this time I was expecting it, and had time to spare before my return flights to Europe. On the day of the loading we were told to be in the basin next to the ship at a certain time and we would each be called on the vhf when it was our turn. There were two superyachts going on the shipping, and they boarded first, then some smaller boats, then finally we motored on and tied up on the ship. It was all very straight-forward and well organised.
We had a couple of days before our flights and we'd been told that we could stay on the boat as it wasn't yet due to leave. The following morning the water was pumped out, the ship re-floated, and the welders moved in. It was good to be there to see how well the boats were secured, and I then felt less anxious about any damage occuring during the sailing. I spent the time securing everything inside the boat in case there was a storm on the crossing. It is still an Atlantic crossing and you won't be there if things come loose and start flying around inside. Then we went to the airport and returned to Europe the fast way.
I flew down to Mallorca a couple of weeks later and prepared to meet the ship. The local agent called me the following morning, and as I walked down to the harbour I could see the familiar orange hull of Super Servant 3. I caught a taxi over and on board Zamindar everything seemed fine. Doug and Lesley from Duva, the boat behind mine had stayed for the journey and it sounded like they'd had a terrific time. The crew had apparently washed all of the boats prior to arrival in Palma, though there were still some soot and rust marks on deck. I knew that I didn't have much time, but I quickly touched up my boot-stripe as the ship sank and the water came closer. I finished the job with my feet standing in the water. The main supports had been removed by this time, and once the water had flooded the ship it was just a case of waiting until the divers had removed the stands, signing for the boat, and motoring off into Palma. It was good to be in the Mediterranean, and it was only spring.
Resources
Dockwise Yacht Transport
Boat Shipping International
Schumacher Cargo Lines
weshipboats.com