‘CYS keen on keeping yachting businesses in the VI’ – Janet Oliver
However, according to Janet Oliver, Executive Director of the Charter Yacht Society (CYS) of the BVI, it does not immediately spell doom for the yacht industry here. It is up to owners to decide where they want to base their yacht as there are a number of considerations other than the change in the US law.
In an exclusive interview with this news site recently, Oliver said, “Our goal as an organisation is to keep things in the BVI. We represent the BVI yachts and we want to see the BVI benefit from the industry. So naturally when yachts start to go over there and do their turnarounds, we work with different agencies and departments to figure out what can we do make sure that the industry does not trickle into the USVI.”
Yacht owners have a choice
Oliver said that when a new boat comes out, unlike a few years back now the owner has a choice. “Should I base in the BVI or do I base in the USVI? And what do I have to do to base in any of those places?”
Oliver explained that in the mid-1990s in the USVI they brought into place this law which stated that you could not pick up more than six paying passengers and take them on a charter.
“The maximum was six for an uninspected vessel. If you picked up seven passengers you had to go through a somewhat onerous inspection process with the US Coast Guard. So what that did was any yacht up for charter that took more than six passengers could not go into the USVI and pick up their guests,” she said.
“That, along with a damaging hurricane in the mid-1990s, opened up the door for the BVI to establish itself as the yachting industry because the yachts were getting bigger and as these yachts were being built they were built to accommodate eight passengers and ten passengers and those boats needed to be based where they can pick their guests up. And so they started basing here,” she said.
Oliver was keen to point out that while this was one consideration there were others that were made with regards to the big yachts being based in the VI.
“There are many reasons why an owner would choose a particular place to base their yacht. But having said that the USVI was not the choice anymore because you couldn’t pick up your passengers there,” she said.
She explained that for the last 20 years any boats that had more than six passengers there the guests would fly into the USVI then get on a ferry and come to the BVI or fly into the airport.
“Now that the USVI has opened up their laws that you can pick up up to 12 paying passengers, those boats that can accommodate eight and ten passengers now have the freedom to go into the USVI and meet their guests there and put them on board and then come back to the BVI,” she said.
Provisioning and other services cheaper in USVI
Oliver explained that one of the things that creates a lot of money for the VI when it comes to the yachting industry is everything that goes along with putting a yacht into business and the actual turnaround of the yacht.
“So you provision the yacht, you have the yacht cleaned, you have your laundry done, you buy flowers, you have a mechanic come on board your yacht to do something, you have a rigger go up and check your rigging…all of those things are done between charters,” she said.
“Well if your boat is over in St Thomas to pick up your charter guests you do your provisioning there, you do your fuelling there, you do your turnaround there, so you end up spending your money there. So what it does is draw some of the money from the BVI economy because you can now do all of that in the USVI,” she said, noting that prices for provisioning and other services are cheaper in the USVI.
She noted, however, that there are some yachts who do not go over to the USVI. “They will not go over there to pick up their guests. They choose not to. And in many instances they charge extra to pick up their guests there,” Oliver explained.
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11 Responses to “‘CYS keen on keeping yachting businesses in the VI’ – Janet Oliver”
Industry sources have calculated that the crewed yacht sector (about 12% of the BVI based charter fleet, based on number of yachts) account for about $50 million to $55 million for the BVI economy. Sounds like a lot, but it's made up of many things, as was pointed out. And, if it spends a couple more days cruising St. John, rather than the BVI, there go some additional funds. The Charter Yacht Society works very hard to help make the BVI the base of choice for charter yachts, and the benefit to the BVI is the income it derives from that sector. By the way, the crewed yachts are the most luxurious and often the largest yachts of the BVI based charter fleet. So that 12% of the fleet accounts for a disproportionate amount of the industry's revenue. The BVI should not be careless to lose that, and people who make dismissive remarks about its importance should learn more about the industry, as they fail to understand its importance.
Government, through its regulations and its Ministries and Departments, has the power to induce yachts to base in the BVI and it also has the power to drive them away. Over the years, different governments have had different levels of understanding as to what makes this sector tick. The better the understanding, the better it is for the BVI
The big guys like Moorings, etc? Well, many of them send boats down to St. Thomas to do their pick-ups, as it is, so you can count on them figuring out a way to base some of their fleets there, should the BVI not respond in some way to keep them here. When the rules in the USVI changed, the stated goal was to lure the charter industry back to the USVI. And the USVI mentioned a figure north of $100 million as the benefit to the USVI. If they are trying to compete with the BVI as a place to base, it is wise for the BVI to do what it can to combat this. And, it is the Charter Yacht Society with whom they usually work, and with whom they should be working, in the future.