2014 Vanuatu International Protocols Seminar

Held on Tuesday 18 March, 2014

Tuesday evening’s seminar at HBYC completed another piece of the jigsaw in preparation for the Melbourne to Vanuatu international ocean yacht race, with presentations from:

• Australian Department of Agriculture on everything you need to know about Quarantine when departing and arriving in Australia by yacht;
• Australian Customs and Border Protection Service regarding Customs and Immigration procedures required when departing and returning to Australia by yacht;
• ORCV International Flag Protocls, mooring at designated Quarantine buoys or pens when arriving at port from another country and Important Upcoming Dates.

The Department of Argiculture and Customs have been very supportive of ORCV training programs for our long distance ocean races to Osaka and Vanuatu and we thank them again for thier ongoing assistance. We are in the process of requesting permission from these organisations to display their presentations.  Meanwhile, you can access the ORCV presentation HERE.

Answers to some important issues and questions raised on the night:

Customs

• Customs Phone Number for notifying Customs no later than 96 hours before arrival is +61 3 9244 8973.
• Customs FAQ for Yachts http://www.customs.gov.au/faq/Yachts.asp.  This FAQ states you MUST notify Customs and Border Protection of your arrival no earlier than ten (10) days and no later than ninety-six (96) hours before your arrival.
• Customs Form B333 for Departure and Arrival (even though the Form is headed Smallcraft Arrival Report) which was included in Customs packs handed out at the seminar http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/b333.pdf

Department of Argiculture - Quarantine

• Department of Agriculture Department of Agriculture's Import Conditions database – ICON. http://www.daff.gov.au/biosecurity/import/icon-icd. If you are not sure about bringing certain items back into Australia, the ICON database is a simple and convenient way to access information about Australian import conditions for more than 20,000 plant, animal, microbial, mineral and human commodities. It can be used to determine if a commodity intended for import to Australia needs a quarantine permit and/or treatment or if there are any other quarantine prerequisites.

Confirmation of Race Start Date

• The Vanuatu Race and Rally start will remain as stated in the Notices of Race and Notice of Rally: 0900hrs Sunday 29th June 2014.  A suggestion was raised regarding the possibility of postponing the Race and Rally start, so as to coincide with yachts arriving in time to celebrate Vanuatu’s Independence Day on 25 July, 2014.  As some entrants have made prior arrangements, no changes to the scheduled start date will be made.

Insurance

• If you are looking for cover for the event we are aware that some members have had very good experience with competitive offshore insurance coverage from Pantaenius. 

Upcoming Vanuatu Seminars and other Training Events

Note the topics for the next two Vanuatu seminars have been swapped around but the dates remain the same!

Seminars and other Training dates

Important Dates