Almost 900,000 UK boaters are due to be hit by post-Brexit travel rules on how long they can stay in Europe after the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December 2020, a new survey by the RYA has found.
With the end of the free movement of people, UK citizens, including boaters, will be restricted to spending no more than 90 days in a rolling 180-day period in the Schengen Area (the Schengen rule) before they have to obtain a visa for each Schengen country they plan to visit.
The RYA’s survey shows that of the estimated 1.2 million UK boaters who currently boat in the Schengen Area, 74% spend more than 90 days in 180 in the Area either boating or on other leisure or travel activities. This equates to almost 900,000 UK boaters whose plans will be disrupted by the change in travel rules on 31 December. Responding to specific questions in the survey, 53% of UK boaters boating abroad said they will be ‘greatly affected’ by the limitations of the Schengen rule. Continue reading “900,000 UK boaters set to be hit by post-Brexit travel rules is RYA survey finding”
My blog is long overdue for an update and what better time to scribble down a few words than at the start of UK Maritime Safety Week which runs from 6 to 10 July 2020. It seems appropriate to put the IIMS weight behind an awareness campaign of this kind, not least as one of the major roles of any marine surveyor, not just in the UK, is to help to keep lives safe at sea and to help protect vessels, cargoes and maritime assets.
“The patient is being left to die.” Those were the stark words used by Paul Rodgers to describe how grave he sees the situation that UK waterways holiday hire companies, boatyards, boatbuilders, training operations, marinas, boat clubs and other waterways businesses find themselves in thanks to the collapse in business following the COVID-19 related shutdown.
The International Institute of Marine Surveying’s (IIMS) submission to the Australian Senate, raising members concerns as to the direction and delivery of AMSA’s services for domestic commercial vessels, has been widely agreed with and extensively quoted in the Rural and Regional Affairs committee’s recently published report entitled Performance of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.