Kafka in IJmuiden

Our first international border crossing

Like most other travelers, sailors that cross international borders are subject to a variety of rules and regulations, visas must be obtained and their conditions adhered to and so on. However, sailors are somewhat irregular travelers in that they not only don’t travel via common routes, e.g. through airports or at specified border crossings, but they also travel with sailing boats and these are governed by a whole separate set of rules, many of which are derived from the operations of sea trading over the centuries. This long heritage means that in some countries there is very strict adherence to these rules, though in others it turns out that there is a bit of leeway given in how closely you (or the authorities) must stick by the rules. Given that we had only ever sailed in Australia’s national waters we had had no previous experience with border controls on yachts, beyond being buzzed a few times by Australia’s Border Force while cruising off Cape York, and so we were a bit unsure about how it would all go. As a consequence, we wanted to stick assiduously to the rules.

Crossing from England to the Netherlands

Yuma is Australian registered and has a crew with Australian and Dutch nationalities. So, before our departure on 17 December from Burnham-on-Crouch to the Netherlands, we had to officially clear customs from the United Kingdom, and then officially clear customs into the Netherlands. The UK system was very easy: you fill out a ‘Pleasure Craft Report’ with details of the boat, crew and departure, and send it via email to the English Border Force 24 hours prior to leaving. Done. Clearing customs in the Netherlands turned out to be not that straightforward…

Dutch clearance procedures

I (Frederieke) had already searched a lot on the internet about the procedures to be followed before and after arrival in the Netherlands. Being Dutch, I was feeling a bit smug thinking that (i) the Dutch clearance procedure would be efficient, and (ii) I would be able to quickly find out where and how to do this. As a foreign sailing boat, there are only a few ports where you can enter the Netherlands and this must be done during ‘official opening hours’. One of these ports is IJmuiden and you can clear in between ‘00.00 – 24.00’. In other words, at this port, customs can conduct clearance procedures 24/7.

Aside from that, there was no further information available on the internet about Dutch procedures other than we had to call the nearest customs office on arrival. This was the customs office in IJmuiden and I had their phone number; we’ve got this, I thought. Meanwhile, David had all the required paperwork for Yuma neatly organized in plastic sleeves and folders. We were ready.

Raising the Q flag

Immediately on our arrival at the Marina Seaport IJmuiden at daybreak on Sunday morning, we hoisted the signal flag, Q. This is a yellow, rectangular flag, used as a signal flag when approaching foreign coasts to indicate to authorities that you are requesting customs clearance.

Arguably, this should have been done when first entering Dutch waters, but hoisting a flag amidships in the middle of the night on a freezing, windblown North Sea had seemed a bit hazardous at the time. So, early in the morning as the wind veered due east onto our nose and increased to 25 knots, we decided, being tired and cold, to motor the last stretch to IJmuiden. It still didn’t feel like particularly ideal flag hoisting conditions.

So, it was only when we were safely moored in the marina that we got the Q flag happily flying under Yuma’s starboard spreader. And then we waited for the expected arrival of the customs immigration officers to clear Yuma in to the Netherlands and to allow us to go ashore.

The waiting game begins

After a few hours of waiting on the boat, still no one had arrived, and we started to wonder about being ‘illegal’ in the Netherlands. The customs office in IJmuiden did not answer their phone; I tried calling them several times. The marina office didn’t answer either. What to do? In Australia you are definitely not allowed off your boat until you have cleared customs; there are hefty fines for those who do. So, we were a bit hesitant to disembark, but this was taking a long time. Maybe customs didn’t work on Sundays? Or was the weather so bad (it was a typical Dutch December day, howling wind and rain and even a bit of snow) that they didn’t conduct harbor visits?

An illegal hot shower on Dutch territory

Eventually, I decided to call a few other customs offices, starting with the office in Amsterdam. Surely, they would be aware of clearance procedures for foreign boats! They were not, but I was given a few other customs phone numbers to try, including Schiphol. Schiphol? That is the international airport near Amsterdam! What would they know about boats? However, given that we hadn’t made any progress so far, I called customs at Schiphol. And indeed, “No ma’am, we only do clearance for planes, we don’t do boats”.

A few other customs offices were called, but they either did not answer or couldn’t provide any further help. In the meantime, a visit to the sanitary facilities of the marina beckoned, especially a hot shower! Since there was no one else around and even the Swedish boat next to us seemed empty, we took our chances and had a lovely (but illegal) hot shower on Dutch territory. We then slinked back to the boat and waited, but no one turned up.

A few phone calls and – bingo!

The next morning, Monday, still no one had appeared and still no one answered the phone. This was very strange and it was beginning to feel like it was taking just a bit too long. I was getting a little desperate and tried some other official channels, including the water police (no answer), the police (“no idea, ma’am”), and the marina. Hooray, this time someone answered the phone!

Unfortunately, she also didn’t know about clearance procedures, but “there is a tray with customs forms inside here at the entrance, maybe that’s something to try”? I asked if she could have a look on these forms for a customs telephone number, given we were still not officially allowed to leave the boat. She got a number for customs in IJmuiden, which was a different one from the one she had found on the internet. Unlike the number I had found, this new number worked and someone answered.

I explained our situation, but no, they wouldn’t stop by, we had to come over to their office in IJmuiden. “That is about a 4 km walk, do you have a car with you?”. No, we didn’t, but after the North Sea crossing and being stuck on the boat for a day, we were looking forward to stretching our legs. “Were we allowed to leave the boat?”, I asked customs. Yes, that was allowed. So, we packed our passports and all the papers for Yuma and headed over to the customs office. A cup of coffee and a stroopwafel may have been enjoyed at a café along the way but that would be secret given that we weren’t yet legally in the country.

But what about Yuma?

When we arrived, our passports were checked and David’s stamped, so we were now legally in the Netherlands. But they didn’t know how to clear Yuma into the country, that was not their office’s responsibility. Perhaps I should call the harbor master of IJmuiden? Whilst we doubted that he would know, or admit to knowing, anything about this process, we were by now ready to try pretty much anything. And indeed, the harbor master confirmed that he only dealt with commercial ships and didn’t know anything about clearing in pleasure craft.

Despondent, we walked back to the marina office and had a chat about our conundrum with the lonely staff member there. “Perhaps you should fill out one of these custom’s forms and place it in their tray, someone seems to stop by every now and then to them”. This we did, and then we returned to the boat to start waiting again. But still no one stopped by. This was getting silly; while we were now legally in the Netherlands, after almost two days Yuma still wasn’t!

A visit by the ‘Douane’, or is that the ‘Marechaussee’?

Back on the boat I suddenly remembered that the customs form had an email address on it! Back I went to the marina office, photographed our form, wrote down the email address, and emailed a copy of our completed form to customs. This time, it only took a little while before we had a response: “We will be at in the port tonight (around 20.00) for a clearance check. Please wait on the ship”. Bingo!

As Yuma had not been legally in the Netherlands for a day and a half now, and we had left the boat, we were a bit nervous about what the Customs folks’ reaction would be. Being Dutch, I thought I should make their visit as ‘gezellig’ as possible to try and smooth out any possible concerns, and so I duly prepared fresh coffee, tea and cookies just before 20.00. I also turned up the heating so that it was nice and warm inside; outside the weather was still horrible and the temperature sat resolutely below zero.

David enters the Netherlands, twice

At exactly 20.00 two Customs (we thought) officers arrived on the wharf. We quickly invited them into the warmth and offered them hot drinks and cookies. This was greatly appreciated, so at least we were off to a good start! Next, they wanted to see our passports; mine was good, David’s got an entry stamp, and then…hey, what is this? The officer noticed that the passport had already been stamped earlier in the day! How was this possible he asked? We told them our adventures of the last day and a half, and explained that we had been officially in the Netherlands since this morning, but we still needed to clear in Yuma.

It transpired that our guests were from the ‘Marechaussee’, i.e. Immigration, and not from ‘Douane’ or Customs; they dealt with people not with goods and definitely not boats. And no, they were not aware that we had already reported to their colleagues in their own office in IJmuiden this morning. We had a bit of a laugh together about the confusion and got about crossing out the double entry in David’s passport.

But wait, my colleague owns a sailboat!

Being Marechaussee, these two blokes couldn’t help us with clearing the boat in, but, one of them remembered that someone in their office owned a sailboat and thought that it was possible that he knew something about the process. And indeed, through their sailing colleague we received three telephone numbers: one from the Customs Team Yachts, and two from the Customs Team Sea Affairs. We were advised to try these numbers first thing in the morning. After another cookie and finishing our respective cups of tea and hot chocolate, we said our goodbyes and the Marechaussees disappeared into the dark Dutch evening.

A few more phone calls

Tuesday morning (now more than two full days after our arrival), I was back on the phone. The first call was to the Team Yachts. An automatic message announced that “we currently have a shortage of employees, and we will now break the connection”. And so they did. Next, Team Sea Affairs. Someone answered, but said that sailing boats are dealt with by Team Yachts. I explained that I had just tried them and got an automatic message. How about the Harbor Master? Again, it was explained that we had already tried them as well. “Ok. Well, if you wait a minute ma’am, I will look into this a bit further”.

My colleague is at work today

Some minutes later, she returned with another number for Team Yachts, and a mobile number from a custom’s colleague who “might be able to help you, I see he’s at work today”. First, the new number for Team Yachts was tried, and then second telephone number of Team Sea Affairs (which we had received the night before), but neither of them answered. This was not going very well, and now there was just the personal mobile number left to try. I gave it a go, and finally, two days after arriving in the Netherlands, we got someone who was familiar with the “Temporary Admission” form we needed for Yuma. “When will you arrive in the Netherlands, ma’am?”. “Eh, well, we’ve already arrived, we’ve been in IJmuiden for two days now”. “Oh, indeed?”

Yuma is finally legal!

What to do? Us being in IJmuiden proved to be a bit difficult as this was far away from his office, and it was also just before Christmas, and it was very, very cold, so coming by to inspect the boat wasn’t really possible. But our new Customs friend solved this problem by exchanging all the necessary forms via email under the still valid COVID procedures, and on December 22 a mere four days after physically arriving, Yuma was finally fully officially and legally arrived in the Netherlands with us!