Rules of conduct on the water – Style – Kommersant

Andrey Lomakin, the founder of the West Nautical Group and an expert in the yachting industry with more than 20 years of experience, told Kommersant Style about how the 2022 yachting season went, where the boats owned by Russian citizens go, and whether they can buy a yacht today. .

Under the current extreme circumstances, the 2022 yachting season went well. I’m not afraid to seem like an unbridled optimist, but sanctions and seizures of property had little effect on the desire of Russians to buy yachts. It may seem to a person from the outside that this is not so, but in fact the sanctions have affected a small part of the yacht owners. The rest – with the desire and thoughtful preparation – can walk and rest where they want.

Black strokes to the picture were added by about six European countries that showed particular zeal within the framework of the sanctions restrictions. These are the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Now they are responsible for the arrested ships and huge losses for their maintenance, amounting to tens of millions. The owners of these yachts were unable to use them. But here it is necessary to clarify that we are talking only about people who fell under personal sanctions.

Among those who were not affected by personal sanctions, some still keep their yachts in the Mediterranean – the only “irritant” here was the frequent check of documents. Preparing for the season was a major challenge, as insurance companies, flags (countries that allow foreign owners to use their flag), and part of the shipyards that planned to hand over finished yachts to customers created certain problems. But those yacht owners who had a strong team at their disposal, whether it was a management company, family office or crew, somehow overcame all the obstacles.

Another part of the yacht owners relocated to friendly countries: in March-April, yacht caravans were drawn to Turkey, filling local marinas. Approximately 60% moved their boats mainly to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and the Maldives. The UAE, for example, is one of the countries where Russians are actively moving and where the season lasts from September to April. There was an increased demand for the transfer of ships by ferry or on their own from the UAE to Turkey and back.

There is no universal answer to the question of which destinations are comfortable and safe for Russian yachtsmen. Today, there are no universal solutions at all, and only a team of lawyers and yachting experts who thoroughly study each case can understand all the intricacies. Therefore, the standard recommendation for Russians is to visit countries that we today call friendly. But I will make a reservation that this is a very primitively formulated rule, since part of the shipowners can freely navigate the entire Mediterranean Sea and continue to use yachts.

Separately, it is worth mentioning that not all customers were able to receive yachts under construction from shipyards. UK sanctions are very tough, and getting a yacht from a British shipyard is now much more problematic than from Southern Europe. French, Spanish, Italian shipyards are still russian friendly, while the British and Dutch are making higher demands.

Nevertheless, you can buy a yacht for a person with a Russian passport if you study the features of the sanctions and immigration laws of the country in which you want to buy it. The simplest thing: a citizen of the Russian Federation can order and buy a boat in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil or China. There are a number of shipyards building quite tolerable boats, but in general the situation is similar to the automotive market, where Chinese and other exotic manufacturers for our market still stand apart.

If someone still wants to buy a yacht of a famous British, Italian, German, Dutch or American brand, then there are many nuances. First of all, in accordance with the fourth package of EU sanctions of March 16, yachts can neither be delivered to Russia nor sold to Russians for operation on the territory of the Russian Federation. There are shipyards that today fundamentally do not sell yachts to Russians. For example, one Dutch company that has handed over dozens of yachts over 55 meters to Russian clients will not sell a yacht to a Russian, no matter how many other passports he may have. The fact is that in addition to government sanctions, conscious political decisions of shipyard owners and other administrative barriers also play a role.

There are two different legal constructions of sanctions. One of them, which can be conditionally designated as European, is guided by Italian, Spanish and part of French shipyards. A yacht can be sold to a citizen of the Russian Federation if he has a residence permit in another country, he does not ask to put the yacht on the territory of Russia and signs an obligation not to use it on Russian territory. In the second legal structure, conditionally British, the sanctions have a much broader interpretation. British companies are not entitled to sell or rent a yacht to any person connected with Russia. However, if a person who has a Russian passport does not live, has no sources of income and real estate in Russia, then practice shows that he is recognized as a “person not associated with Russia.”

The introduction of restrictions on the purchase of yachts for Russians affected the global yacht market. It’s no secret that there were shipyards whose share of Russian clients reached 40%. And over the past years, megayachts have been built mainly by Americans, Russians and Arabs. This year, Italian and French shipyards made deliveries to Russians: the yacht was handed over in Europe with guarantees from the client that it would not be used in Russia. And such cases are not units, but dozens. Northern European shipyards behaved differently, and the results were not long in coming. As far as I know, in the summer several Dutch shipyards sent a collective appeal to the government in which they (hereinafter – my free interpretation) said that their condition would be very deplorable if the sanctions were extended.

In general, yachting life continues, although the times are more than ambiguous. If you do not want to change your habits and plans, then if you have a competent family office or management company, today there are not many reasons to change these plans and habits. However, now it is very important for every yacht owner to scrupulously follow the legal norms of both the Russian Federation and the country or countries in which the yacht is built, where it will be registered, insured and operated. Then you can enjoy your vacation on board, and not sort things out with the authorities.

Interviewed by Olga Selezneva