Forum: Bring down CIQ costs for pleasure craft owners in Singapore
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I wish to highlight the high cost faced by owners of pleasure craft (boats used for sport, recreational or leisure purposes) when leaving and entering Singapore, and to urge the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) to consider a more practical and affordable alternative.
Pleasure craft can clear Customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) only at a few designated private marinas. These marinas typically charge about $300 per clearance, purportedly to cover armed guards and the maintenance of CIQ working space. Pleasure craft owners must also engage a licensed agent at a cost of about $200 per clearance, unless they furnish a bank bond of $5,000 to ICA to act as their own agent.
As a result, a single outbound clearance costs about $500, and a simple weekend round trip to nearby destinations such as Batam or Bintan can cost up to $1,000 in clearance fees. This is prohibitively expensive.
Countries such as Indonesia and Thailand allow pleasure craft owners to complete CIQ procedures themselves, without engaging agents or renting private marina facilities, at costs amounting to only tens of Singapore dollars.
While ICA can conduct CIQ procedures at Marina South Pier (MSP), MPA does not permit pleasure craft to berth there for CIQ purposes, even though cruise ships are allowed to do so. Instead, pleasure craft owners who want to save on marina CIQ charges are required to charter water launches from private marinas to MSP, adding several hundred dollars to the process and nullifying the intended savings.
I suggest MPA consider allowing pleasure craft to berth at MSP for CIQ purposes, and that ICA let pleasure craft owners submit CIQ documentation directly without requiring a large bank bond. This would remove the need for costly third-party agents and marina fees.
Such changes would promote maritime tourism and benefit Singapore pleasure craft owners as well as visiting boats, and would bring Singapore’s CIQ practices in line with those of most other maritime nations.
Goh Ee Kiat
