Trawler in China Relocation

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

haro274

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2020
Messages
9
Location
Australia
I have a partially completed trawler that is currently in China that I would like to relocate to a nearby country for completion (partially myself).

The Zero covid policy ect, is just making this project way to difficult.

It will need to be shipped as it is still not at the stage where it can move under its own power.

Vietnam would be the best, particularly Hai Phong, however can not get any ship yards to reply.

Perhaps the Philippines could be another option?

If anyone has any advice or contacts in these regions, please let me know.
 
Haro, I visited Song Thu in VN with my 43ft steel trawler plans (pre-Covid). They didn't want to have anything to do with me. Big Damen tugs are expensive and that's the market they are targeting.

It's really difficult to communicate with or even get responses from VN shipyards via email. You need to go in person. Personally I would definitely use VN yards, but you need to be there full time, in person. Don't expect to live remotely and rely on visits or a local surveyor to support you.
 
Thanks everyone for the above replies.

I do have to agree with you MAKO, I have not been able to get a reply out of a Vietnamese ship yard and I see this already as being problematic .

Perhaps the Philippines might be a better option
 
The difficulty is that the shipyards which target the international markets are the only ones which would have good communications. I've had excellent daily comms with various Chinese yards, for example. None of the steel or commercial yards in VN market to our size/budget of boats.

I have an idea. Reach out to Corsair Marine and Triac Composites. They both build fiberglass trimarans and cats in VN, for western companies. You may be able to work out a deal with them to finish off your boat. Since they have western management and oversight, you may be able to trust them remotely.
 
What’s the situation with import duties? I was talking to a broker in BC about a used Selene who said there was a 25% duty to bring Chinese-built boats (even used from a third country) into the US these days. Is that your understanding too? Would finishing the boat in Vietnam get around that?
 
I would think the OP would either pay the big duties on the value of the Chinese hull only, or wait and wait and hope that Biden removes those duties, which there have been discussions of.
 
It is clear as mud....

Starting here, https://hts.usitc.gov/current, and reading a bit of Chapter 89. It would seem that for a power boat, the rate of duty is either 26.5% or 30%, and I can't tell when one would apply the different rates. But I guess it really does not mater since either rate is a show stopper for importation into the US.

The normal rate is 1.5% as I understand it. 25% is then added to the 1.5% to get to 26.5%. Then there is a 30% rate which I do not see how/when it is applied.


Later,
Dan
 
Last edited:
And then there is the “Nordhavn exception” for “Motorboats with displacement hulls of reinforced fiberglass and wood, each motorboat measuring not less than 14.47 m and not more than 36.57 m in length and weighing not less than 28 t and not more than 363 t, powered by inboard engines, other than inboard/outdrive.”

That's what I thought also, but I got in touch with CBP back in March as it was my read that these boats, falling into HTS 8903.32.00, would be exempt. However, as confirmed by The Man, this category IS subject to the additional special 25% tariff.

So the OP has some choices:
  1. Pay his duties based on the cost paid in China for the incomplete vessel;
  2. Wait for the special tariff to be repealed;
  3. Don't import the vessel into America.
 
Based on the town listed as his "City" I don't believe he needs to worry about US import duty's. Maybe I'm mistaken...
 
Good job Spike. Didn’t even look. Hope OP logs back in as I would definitely like to learn more about his project
 
Based on the town listed as his "City" I don't believe he needs to worry about US import duty's. Maybe I'm mistaken...

Yeah, I don't think the OP cares about US import duties but I was unaware off the added duty placed on Chinese boats. I had heard something vague but never looked it up, so I am glad the conversation went the way it did. :)

Later,
Dan
 
You might try some of the shipyards in North Taiwan.
Nova, Blue Water or Transworld might be options.

Thanks Just working
I see you are located in Taiwan?
This is a steel trawler, if you have any recommendations that might work better for a boat that is not along the super yacht build lines would love to hear.
 
I have lived in Taiwan for the last 17 years and work as project manager and surveyor.
I also do work in China Thailand and Vietnam.

How far along is the construction ? I know of a few yards that might be interested but a lot depend on the scope of the work.
 
I have lived in Taiwan for the last 17 years and work as project manager and surveyor.
I also do work in China Thailand and Vietnam.

How far along is the construction ? I know of a few yards that might be interested but a lot depend on the scope of the work.

PM sent
 
The China import tariff (for US flagged vessels), is not based on the full value of the vessel, it excludes all equipment and components sourced outside China. The tariff applies to Chinese sourced materials and labor. It varies from vessel to vessel, however, the effective calculated tariff for vessels I'm involved with is about 8-10%.

I too would recommend Taiwan as an option, a number of yards there, some of whom might be willing to take on a project, depending on the scope and details (by coincidence I'm headed to Taiwan tomorrow).
 
The China import tariff (for US flagged vessels), is not based on the full value of the vessel, it excludes all equipment and components sourced outside China. The tariff applies to Chinese sourced materials and labor. It varies from vessel to vessel, however, the effective calculated tariff for vessels I'm involved with is about 8-10%.

I too would recommend Taiwan as an option, a number of yards there, some of whom might be willing to take on a project, depending on the scope and details (by coincidence I'm headed to Taiwan tomorrow).

Thanks Steve, PM sent
 
31 year ago we built

The difficulty is that the shipyards which target the international markets are the only ones which would have good communications. I've had excellent daily comms with various Chinese yards, for example. None of the steel or commercial yards in VN market to our size/budget of boats.

I have an idea. Reach out to Corsair Marine and Triac Composites. They both build fiberglass trimarans and cats in VN, for western companies. You may be able to work out a deal with them to finish off your boat. Since they have western management and oversight, you may be able to trust them remotely.




this boat in Hai-Phong, In the middle of 90 they start to also built in alloy.
Until , say around 2010 they still accept to built "small" boat, but Damen "bought" the shipyard and now no more...
The small one like Tam Bac shipyard disappear, the big one like Bac Dang shipyard built bigger boat and the middle one like Song Cam shipyard work also for Damen
 

Attachments

  • oaristys.JPG
    oaristys.JPG
    35.5 KB · Views: 8
this boat in Hai-Phong, In the middle of 90 they start to also built in alloy.
Until , say around 2010 they still accept to built "small" boat, but Damen "bought" the shipyard and now no more...
The small one like Tam Bac shipyard disappear, the big one like Bac Dang shipyard built bigger boat and the middle one like Song Cam shipyard work also for Damen

Thanks for the reply
I have sent you a PM
 
Back
Top Bottom