State Council Approves Free Yacht Travel in GBA

China’s State Council has approved measures exempting Hong Kong and Macau yachts from cross-border financial guarantees, significantly reducing economic burdens for boat owners and enabling yachts from the two Special Administrative Regions to travel freely within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Beijing says it will release a provisional registration framework in mid-June that will allow these vessels to navigate freely within the waters of the nine mainland GBA cities while preserving their original registrations. According to the State Council's announcement, it approved the exemption from the guarantee requirement and the implementation of temporary ship nationality registration for Hong Kong and Macao yachts when they temporarily enter and exit the Chinese mainland through designated GBA ports and navigate only within the waters of these cities.

Hong Kong’s Government said on 30 May that it “welcomed” the new policy announcement. The HKSAR’s Transport and Logistics Bureau said the new policies would enable individual yacht travel within the area, as they significantly reduced the financial burden on Hong Kong and Macau yacht owners and allowed them to obtain temporary certificates without affecting their original vessel registration. The Marine Department also added that it is actively coordinating with the Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration on facilitation measures for the southbound yachts sailing from the mainland.