Transporting Dutch Houseboat from The Netherlands to UK

[amsterdamhouseboattgm1966]

First post on this forum. I created an account specifically to ask this question so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I own a Dutch houseboat docked in a boatyard in the outskirts of Amsterdam. I've had the boat docked there for 15 years and have decided to have the boat moved from Holland to the UK. The boat doesn't have a working engine, so the next best bet would be to have it uplifted or towed from Amsterdam to where I am in the UK (Glasgow, Scotland). I've gotten in contact with a few companies, with only one company replying back to email with a quoted price of €15000. This is a bit of a steep price for me, so I'm making inquiries with different companies.

 

My main question is this:
Has anyone here had a similar situation to my own? If so, what would my best course of action be? Is that the best price I can get or is there a better way of going about this?

 

I'm also attaching a picture of my boat so people have a better idea of what exactly I'm dealing with here.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Welcome to the forum. Can you provide length, beam, height and weight numbers? Would help.

 

[Tony Brooks]

Welcome.

 

I think you should also contact The Barge Association. Since Brexit, there may well be UK taxes to pay.

[Iain_S]

1 hour ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Welcome to the forum. Can you provide length, beam, height and weight numbers? Would help.

 

Both air draught and draught.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

Welcome.

 

I think you should also contact The Barge Association. Since Brexit, there may well be UK taxes to pay.

 

And, on checking, the UK Government released this to British Marine (BM) :

 

Following the release of the UK - EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Both the UK and EU have confirmed that any vessel being traded second-hand between the UK and EU will be required to meet the obligations set out in either the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) in the EU or the Recreational Craft Regulations (RCR) in the UK when placed on either market after the 1 January 2021. 

Therefore, this means that a pre-owned vessel being imported from the EU to be placed on the UK market will, after 1 January 2022, be required to obtain a new UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) mark in line with the requirements of the RCR. In order to obtain a UKCA mark, a boat will require a Post Construction Assessment and third-party verification. 

 

“As a consequence of Brexit, this is a complex and potentially difficult situation,” says Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine. “Faced with the process of individual boat re-certification, boat builders, brokers and consumers will be impacted in terms of both time and cost when selling and buying second-hand boats cross borders. At this stage in time, British Marine is working hard to represent affected members and seek clarification of the exact ramifications of these regulations.”

[MtB]

56 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Both the UK and EU have confirmed that any vessel being traded second-hand between the UK and EU will be required to meet the obligations set out in either the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD) in the EU or the Recreational Craft Regulations (RCR) in the UK when placed on either market after the 1 January 2021. 

 

Or what happens, if they ignore this?

 

Just curious...

 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

Or what happens, if they ignore this?

 

Just curious...

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not responsible for the enforcement, but I imagine they'll be required to declare the boat when they aproach their first UK port, flying the Q flag and request customs clearance (and possibly the payment of VAT)

[Tony Brooks]

I think we had a similar question a month or so ago and the questioner seemed to have got some kind of exemption from the tax & possibly the RCR/RCD thing because it was their long term home. Perhaps do a search on this forum.

[ditchcrawler]

59 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

I think we had a similar question a month or so ago and the questioner seemed to have got some kind of exemption from the tax & possibly the RCR/RCD thing because it was their long term home. Perhaps do a search on this forum.

Possibly this one 

 

[David Mack]

Do you have a mooring in Glasgow?

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

I think we had a similar question a month or so ago and the questioner seemed to have got some kind of exemption from the tax & possibly the RCR/RCD thing because it was their long term home. Perhaps do a search on this forum.

 

He certainly got VAT exemption from HMRC as he had been living on the boat in Holland, but I never saw any post following his discussions with the PLA (or any one else) regarding the RCR.

 

I did say 

 

9 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

..................and possibly the payment of VAT

 

As, if he is already living in Scotland, the boat may not be his primary residence.

 

It'll all be down to individual circumstances.

[amsterdamhouseboattgm1966]

14 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Welcome to the forum. Can you provide length, beam, height and weight numbers? Would help.

 

16.9x3 metres (16.9 metres from the top of the wheel house to the bottom of the boat)

>20 tonnes (not entirely sure as I've never had the boat weighed)

Wide-beam

 

I was wanting to get the boat moved before winter (so as to avoid having to pay the boatyard's winter docking fee) but it might be too late to do that at this point. 

 

I was checking out the other thread about someone trying to transport a boat from Holland to London and came across the part of the government website that talks about the importing of a "pleasure craft" and how it has to be declared:

"Owners of vessels less than 12 metres long may have to pay Customs Duty when imported from outside the UK."

Seeing as my boat is 16.9 metres would it come under a different category than "pleasure craft"?

[Graham Davis]

7 minutes ago, amsterdamhouseboattgm1966 said:

16.9x3 metres (16.9 metres from the top of the wheel house to the bottom of the boat)

>20 tonnes (not entirely sure as I've never had the boat weighed)

Wide-beam

 

I was wanting to get the boat moved before winter (so as to avoid having to pay the boatyard's winter docking fee) but it might be too late to do that at this point. 

 

I was checking out the other thread about someone trying to transport a boat from Holland to London and came across the part of the government website that talks about the importing of a "pleasure craft" and how it has to be declared:

"Owners of vessels less than 12 metres long may have to pay Customs Duty when imported from outside the UK."

Seeing as my boat is 16.9 metres would it come under a different category than "pleasure craft"?

 

That's 55ft tall!!
Are you sure, or is that it's length?

[amsterdamhouseboattgm1966]

33 minutes ago, Graham Davis said:

 

That's 55ft tall!!
Are you sure, or is that it's length?

Oh, you're probably right, sorry! I meant to say it's 16.9 metres in *length*.

The height from the bridge-house to the bottom is about 3.5-4m.

This is just an estimate, however, as I've said before the boat has never been out of the water. So I've never had the chance to properly weigh or measure the height of the boat.

 

I appreciate everyone's interest in my question, hopefully I can find the answers that I'm looking for here.

[Iain_S]

If you end up getting a tow across the North Sea, it would be easier going to Grangemouth and using the Forth and Clyde canal to get to Glasgow. The limiting factor in your case would be draught and height above water. Official maximum height on the F&C is 3 metres. Depth is just under 2 metres.

[Alan de Enfield]

3 hours ago, amsterdamhouseboattgm1966 said:

"Owners of vessels less than 12 metres long may have to pay Customs Duty when imported from outside the UK."

 

 

That is 'duty' (another tax) on top of VAT.

[amsterdamhouseboattgm1966]

2 hours ago, Iain_S said:

If you end up getting a tow across the North Sea, it would be easier going to Grangemouth and using the Forth and Clyde canal to get to Glasgow. The limiting factor in your case would be draught and height above water. Official maximum height on the F&C is 3 metres. Depth is just under 2 metres.

This could be the right avenue to go down. I figure it must be cheaper to have the boat towed from A to B than to have it fully uplifted (in which case I'd have to pay the boatyard owners to do so). I was thinking Grangemouth would be the best place to have the boat taken to and I reckon height and depth won't be a problem.

Has anyone had any experience with boat towing? If so, was there any particular companies that specialise in towing or are the best at towing boats from Europe?

[Alan de Enfield]

32 minutes ago, amsterdamhouseboattgm1966 said:

This could be the right avenue to go down. I figure it must be cheaper to have the boat towed from A to B than to have it fully uplifted (in which case I'd have to pay the boatyard owners to do so). I was thinking Grangemouth would be the best place to have the boat taken to and I reckon height and depth won't be a problem.

Has anyone had any experience with boat towing? If so, was there any particular companies that specialise in towing or are the best at towing boats from Europe?

 

I'd suggest that before you can decide if Grangemouth is the correct route in that you get the actual 'draft' (depth in the water) and 'air draft' (maximum height from water to the top of the boat) measurements - I'm sure you'd hate to get towed up to Grangemouth to be told "No Entry - you need to get towed up to Inverness, across the Caledonian Canal, down the West coast and 'go in' via the Clyde and Glasgow".

 

I'm not convinced that 'by water' will be the most suitable method, considering that you say it has a very low freeboard, and with unsettled weather coming (Autumn / Winter storms) you stand more chance than a little paying for a tug and crew to sit for days / weeks on standby in Amsterdam.

 

It is 435 nm Amsterdam to Grangemouth - when you get to Grangemouth how will you get to Glasgow ? It will be unlikely that a sea-going tug will fit on the F&C canal given the quoted dimensions.

 

It is 961 nm from Amsterdam to Glasgow, via the South and West coasts of Britain

 

Yes,, it you truck it, you will have cranage at both ends but it is not a big boat (narrowboats are up to 72 feet) and it is not wide enough to require escort vehicles (I needed escorts when mine was moved as it is 14 foot beam).

It will fit on a 'standard' low loader - you may even be able to get a '1/2 price back load' if there is a truck going back to Scotland empty.

 

Marine Route Planner

 

 

Edited September 22 by Alan de Enfield

[Bee]

Are you sure this is worth it?  Its not an unusual or especially historic boat. You will find many similar boats in the Netherlands and in fact all over France and the rest of Europe. Look up 'Marktplaats' and then. I think 'watersports' or something like that and there are usually quite a lot of Westlanders or Kagenaars, small tjalks and other similar vessels, mostly cheap (compared to narrowboats) , quite easily to overplate and so on. As you have found its no longer straightforward to buy something and export / import it between this country and the EU. There are lots of similar boats in the S.E. of the UK, might be wise to look over here first or maybe a better historic vessel of character here (Not wood!)

[amsterdamhouseboattgm1966]

21 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

I'd suggest that before you can decide if Grangemouth is the correct route in that you get the actual 'draft' (depth in the water) and 'air draft' (maximum height from water to the top of the boat) measurements - I'm sure you'd hate to get towed up to Grangemouth to be told "No Entry - you need to get towed up to Inverness, across the Caledonian Canal, down the West coast and 'go in' via the Clyde and Glasgow".

 

I'm not convinced that 'by water' will be the most suitable method, considering that you say it has a very low freeboard, and with unsettled weather coming (Autumn / Winter storms) you stand more chance than a little paying for a tug and crew to sit for days / weeks on standby in Amsterdam.

 

It is 435 nm Amsterdam to Grangemouth - when you get to Grangemouth how will you get to Glasgow ? It will be unlikely that a sea-going tug will fit on the F&C canal given the quoted dimensions.

 

It is 961 nm from Amsterdam to Glasgow, via the South and West coasts of Britain

 

Yes,, it you truck it, you will have cranage at both ends but it is not a big boat (narrowboats are up to 72 feet) and it is not wide enough to require escort vehicles (I needed escorts when mine was moved as it is 14 foot beam).

It will fit on a 'standard' low loader - you may even be able to get a '1/2 price back load' if there is a truck going back to Scotland empty.

 

Marine Route Planner

 

 

 

It's good to know that if I do get the boat lifted then it won't need escort vehicles. I'm essentially going by estimate when it comes draft/air draft (3.5-4 m) due to the fact the boat has never been out of the water since I purchased it. With uplift in mind, which company did you end up going with to move your boat? I would probably already be paying up to €2000 just to have it lifted out of the boatyard, so if you can recommend anyone that uplifts at a good price it would be greatly appreciated.

 

20 hours ago, Bee said:

Are you sure this is worth it?  Its not an unusual or especially historic boat. You will find many similar boats in the Netherlands and in fact all over France and the rest of Europe. Look up 'Marktplaats' and then. I think 'watersports' or something like that and there are usually quite a lot of Westlanders or Kagenaars, small tjalks and other similar vessels, mostly cheap (compared to narrowboats) , quite easily to overplate and so on. As you have found its no longer straightforward to buy something and export / import it between this country and the EU. There are lots of similar boats in the S.E. of the UK, might be wise to look over here first or maybe a better historic vessel of character here (Not wood!)

 

It would be all well and good if I could just afford to buy another boat. However, the point of me moving the boat that I already have (that I also got at a good price) is to try and mitigate fees that I'm already paying towards having it docked in Holland. My main concern is finding a company that can either uplift it or tow it at a good affordable price.

 

Once again, I'm thankful for people's insights but my main concern is moving the boat in whichever way is best/cheapest.

[Tam & Di]

On 22/09/2024 at 13:55, amsterdamhouseboattgm1966 said:

The height from the bridge-house to the bottom is about 3.5-4m.

Does the wheelhouse fold down to the level of the top of the cabin? - It probably means lifting the doors off from what I can tell of the photo, but might give a wider choice of routes once in the UK.

[Alan de Enfield]

55 minutes ago, amsterdamhouseboattgm1966 said:

It's good to know that if I do get the boat lifted then it won't need escort vehicles. I'm essentially going by estimate when it comes draft/air draft (3.5-4 m) due to the fact the boat has never been out of the water since I purchased it. With uplift in mind, which company did you end up going with to move your boat? I would probably already be paying up to €2000 just to have it lifted out of the boatyard, so if you can recommend anyone that uplifts at a good price it would be greatly appreciated.

 

Mine was an expensive specialist mover as the height of the boat meant it wouldn't fit under standard UK bridges (16' 6") even with everything folded down.

 

I had to get a special low loader that had a hydraulic trailer so that when they got to a bridge it could be lowered from 'road driving height' down to 100mm, go thru the bridge, stop and raise it again. (It then came down to 16' 0" so was OK).

It cost £2500 to move 205 miles (across england from Newark to North Wales. Took 2 days due to Police driving hours restrictions, and two people and an Escort vehicle.

 

If you want to call them the name is on the side of the truck. They do International collections and deliveries so know what they are doing crossing borders. They do have 'normal' boat moving lorries as well.

Being in Lincoln they are well placed to do Hull - Rotterdam for a Netherlands pick up.. back to Hull and up the A1 to Scotland.

Simples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23 by Alan de Enfield

[Tam & Di]

I don't think towage would be your best bet, but you could enquire of Alan Pratt - he has done similar work before. I'll have a quick look to see if I can turn up contact details to add later.

 

added:

Alan Pratt Towage is based in Chatham, but I can't immediately find the details. Another person who does come to mind for road haulage/cranage is Ray Bowern - again he has done plenty of similar jobs.

 

I've known both people commercially over several years, - I have no connection with either though.

 

Edited September 23 by Tam & Di
remove an eMail address

[haggis]

A couple of things you have probably already thought of but have you spoken to Scottish Canals about a mooring in Glasgow? Also someone else who is hoping to bring his boat to the Lowland canals (from England) was told by SC that the hull  had to be pressure washed to make sure it is not bringing in any nasties attached to the hull.  Dont know what the view is for boats coming from the Netherlands 🙂 . 

[magnetman]

Reminded me of this I took out of an old copy of waterways world

 

Not sure if the dock cranes can handle bigger units though. 

 

Still a nice idea. Maybe a semi submersible to carry it. 

 

Or a new engine.