Superyachts: Turkish Commercial Licence

In a recent transaction involving the purchase of a yacht to be delivered in Turkey, we discovered that a commercially registered yacht wishing to enter Turkish territorial waters must first obtain a Turkish commercial licence, irrespective of whether she was entering on charter.

The only exceptions are if the yacht is entering Turkish waters to disembark crew for repatriation, or for provisioning, and even then the yacht may remain in Turkish waters for no longer than 24 hours.

We were acting on behalf of the incoming owner, who wished to take delivery of the yacht while she was alongside in Turkey, as this would place her closer to the yacht’s ultimate destination under the new ownership. Due to the above restrictions, we had to persuade the seller to change the yacht’s registration from commercial to private, as privately registered yachts may enter Turkish territorial waters without the same licensing requirements.

Sarah Fairweather
Partner & Head of Talent

Lauren McNab
Lawyer