Shipping to the 2025 NZL Worlds.
Advice on container shipping
For those used to shipping their boats around the world, skim through this as there are a couple of key bits of NZ specific information.
To get your boat to NZ, you will need a 40” high cube shipping container. Within one of these, you can fit up to 10 A-Class (Stack them bow to bow, 4 high, then 2 on their side in the middle). To make it worthwhile cost wise, you usually need about 5 or more boats in a container. Costs vary obviously, but the return trip could cost between €1,500 to €3,000 Euro per boat.
It is best to pack your boats into a container close to a major port. This reduces trucking costs, and means that the boats will get to a from NZ, as major ports have more regular freight services. Organise will all the participants in the container to meet on a certain day with all the gear, and get packing.
It is very important when shipping your boats and gear to NZ that everything is clean and dry. No wood should be used. New Zealand has very strict bio-security rules, and any issues with bio-security in your container, could mean it is delayed. Check with your shipping agent about fumigation of the container as well, the Marmorated Stink Bug is a big concern for NZ at the moment, and it is located in most places you will be coming from.
To ensure you don’t have to pay value added tax (GST) in New Zealand on everything you are importing, you will need to fill out a CARNET, your shipping agent can help with this. But you must list every item in the container and its value and you must ensure all of these items leave NZ when you head home, otherwise you can be liable for GST and Duty on those items.
When your container arrives in New Zealand, it’s first stop after the port will be a Transitional Facility, this is a bio-security location where the container can be opened and inspected. The easier you make for your container to be inspected, the better. Ideally you don’t want them unpacking the whole container to inspect it. So do a good job of making it easy for people to get in and around everything in the container. Also document your packing of the container with photos.
Once the container is cleared, it can be trucked to the Yacht Club, where we will organize a location for storage and coordinate with you for unpacking.
For the New Zealand part of this, or for the whole shipment, you can get in touch with Oceanbridge, who can coordinate everything for you.
