“People who run the businesses can tell you, the best work in the Caribbean is in Trinidad — the best capabilities, workmanship, yards.
However, Trinidad has the worst red tape,” Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association president Mark Loe told Business Day.
Over the past decade and a half, the yachting industry has declined hugely. Between 2000 and 2015, Trinidad experienced a 61 percent drop in yacht arrivals and for 2016 so far, yacht arrivals have fallen by a further 24 percent compared with last year. (See graph) Just checking in to the island is a hassle — visitors in yachts need to fill up almost 15 forms — sometimes in triplicate — to satisfy various Customs and Immigration regulations — including a new one on stowaway information.
“We’ve been asking for years just for them to implement a Single Harmonised Form to streamline the process.
Meanwhile, the other islands competing with us have already introduced it and some… have electronic submissions that you can submit before you dock through a Single Electronic Window.
And their Immigration officers are much more pleasant,” a spokesman for the Yachting Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago (YSATT) said.
Then there’s the seemingly arbitrary way that Immigration grants approvals to for “yachties” to stay on the island.
“Usually… repair works take six months.
Immigration most of the time just stamps a yachtie’s passport for three months. After that, they have to get an extension. For whatever reason, the Immigration Office in Chaguaramas decided it doesn’t do extensions anymore and now these people need to go to in the traffic and confusion of Port-of-Spain to get their extensions,” Loe said.
“Sometimes it feels like it depends on what side of the bed the officer woke up on that day,” another industry source, who requested he not be named, said of the arbitrariness of Immigration decisions.
YSATT noted that they have been clamouring for a standardised list of the Immigration arrival and departure regulations. The Boater’s Directory, what is supposed to be the industry bible for yachties trying to navigate the industry in Trinidad, hasn’t been updated since 2015 because there is no standard.
One example is the randomness to the regulation for pleasure crafts departing after clearance has been given.
Originally it was 24 hours, Business Day was told. Then one day, the instruction became one hour.
Then four hours.
Sometimes, people aren’t even given a grace period and are told to leave immediately. Finally, the industry asked for 16 hours, and thus far, that seems to be the baseline.
As with most of our industries, Trinidad and Tobago’s lack of competitiveness seems to stem from our dependence on energy.
Other Caribbean islands, on the other hand, didn’t need energy, so they knew what they had to do to build their capacity.
Grenada, especially, has set out to carve their niche.
The general consensus from people in the industry who spoke with Business Day is that Grenada has done their homework and set out to take Trinidad’s business, specifically tackling the issues that hit Trinidad hardest — they have friendlier immigration officers, easier check in and a product that engages yachties to enjoy their time on the island while waiting on repairs.
Their products and services might not yet be up to the standards of Trinidad and Tobago, undoubtedly the best in terms of service offerings and experience, but most people agree they will get there, and it will be the death knell for Trinidad if this country doesn’t get its act together.
“They have friendlier immigration officers and more efficient services to check in. They did their homework and they set out to take Trinidad’s business because we’ve ignored our industry,” Loe said.
And then there’s the Yacht-In-Transit tax that was announced in the 2017 Budget last year.
Before, yachties with boats registered outside of Trinidad and Tobago could order equipment and have it delivered to them here without having to pay the Value Added Tax. The Budget amendment meant that this was no longer the case, meaning that if a foreign sailor bought equipment for which he had already paid taxes in his home country, he would have to pay an additional tax here.
The amendment has since been removed, but not before wreaking havoc on the industry.
“It’s a seasonal industry and people plan to be in transit for repairs months in advance. When news of that tax broke, people changed their plans. Now is supposed to be peak time and the marina is empty. There’s no business and companies are either closing or on the verge of shutting down,” Loe said.
The tax turned out to be a boon for Grenada, who had just recently announced the opening of a brand new boatyard, one of the managers at a major repair yard told Business Day. After the tax was announced he said he received up to 50 cancellations “It was such a ridiculous tax. It almost buried us,” he said.
Then there are little things, like general maintenance and getting rid of stray dogs.
“Trinidad is probably the only place you can walk for less than a mile and find every major service you need to fix your boat. Yachties have a culture of walking.
But there a barely any sidewalks, the grass is overgrown and I’ve had to pay personally for medical bills from people who needed tetanus shots from getting bitten by stray dogs,” the YSATT spokesman said.
The Government, has for its part, however, acknowledged the shortcomings of the industry, and has been in dialogue with the stakeholders — notably the YSATT. Trade Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon spoke to Business Day and said Cabinet has already approved a framework to improve the industry and draft legislation to standardise regulations.
One of the most meaningful measures is the approval of the Single Harmonised Form for Trinidad and Tobago, eliminating most of the tedious paperwork. She said some legislative changes are required for its approval, which is currently being handled by the Attorney General.
But she is hopeful the form can be officially introduced by the end of this year, and that legislation can be drafted in three months, and taken to Parliament by August next year.
Gopee-Scoon was aware of the challenges the industry is facing, but she remained hopeful that once these regulations were enacted, it could grow and become a major foreign exchange earner.
YSATT is also optimistic, even though the spokesman acknowledged that they have been making similar requests to the government for nearly 20 years. On a whole though, the people in the industry don’t seem that upbeat about the prospects.
“Grenada’s government is helping their industry, ours isn’t. That’s the reality,” the boatyard manager said.
“The industry is dying.
In fact, it’s probably dead already,” Loe added.
