Blogs

In my first post on this topic, I concentrated on Dockwise Yacht Transport and their services, since they are the current leaders in the boat transportation arena, the most advanced and efficient. I also chose them, since their fleet is designed and dedicated to transporting boats using their unique float-on / float off method; and because I could give an account of my own personal first-hand experience of using their service.

However with the completion getting ‘hotter’ and the search intensifying for more attractive cost structures than those currently offered by Dockwise, the next few years will undoubtedly see some changes and jostling for pride of place. Currently other means of getting your boat to where you want it centre on the more traditional crane-on/crane-off shipping method; a method which may not seem as ‘sexy’ and streamlined as float-on /float off, but nonetheless results from the fine-tuning of the traditional method of carrying cargo, particularly deck cargo, that dates back hundreds of years.

All tucked in on deck

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Your boat is lies at ‘A’ - but you dream of having it at ‘B’.

A dreary cold winter lies around the corner, and besides the financial waste associated with a long winter lay-up you dream of sailing with the trade winds, under a tropical sky. Perhaps you have just retired or are about to take a sabbatical and want to make the best of it.

For the purposes of this post, let’s assume you are in Europe dreaming about the Caribbean. You long to be there, but that formidable water barrier, the Atlantic Ocean lies between you and your longing. You have no desire to spend a large slice of your free time doing battle with its featureless waste, subjecting you and your valuable boat to the weeks of relentless bashing the Atlantic may well have in store for you. More importantly, do you want to subject your wife/partner to such a start to what you hope will be her ‘dream’ also! No! You just want to wake up one morning and find yourself lying at anchor in the Caribbean - as if gently put down there by a ‘magic carpet’.

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