Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club was founded in 1872 and has over 100 active members. It has produced a significant number of international and Olympic Rowers and currently has a very active masters' squad who have, for the last 12 months, trained with the aim of competing at the World Masters Regatta.
Rowing is an international sport at the elite level with World Cup Regatta’s, European Championship, World Championship and the Olympics every four years. It is equally international at top Club Masters level with a European and World Championships every year plus several large European regattas.
This year, the World Rowing Masters Regatta took place in Libourne near Bordeaux where 622 races took place involving 3,200 athletes. Read Nigel Price’s, Honorary Secretary at Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club, story below on how the Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club used an ATA Carnet for the event.
The Carnet Process
Having previously towed the club’s boat trailer to Budapest for the World Masters in 2019, I thought that towing to France would be very easy once I had sorted the paperwork. I first reached out to our governing body who had not prepared for the situation and produced a presentation which recommended using a third party. The little guidance provided was based upon crossing the Channel through the tunnel, as this is the route taken by the GB team, not using a car ferry.
Having worked in international trade myself, I had a reasonable idea about what would be required – although I knew nothing about Carnets at this stage. I contacted my former colleagues who put me in touch with freight forwarders who could do the Carnets for us, on the condition that they would also do the freight which was not necessary. I realised that Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce would produce the documentation anyway and decided to reach out directly.
I talked to Pauline Puig, Senior International Trade and Customs Advisor at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, who immediately understood what we were doing and had worked on similar situations. We worked out that we needed an ATA Carnet, a Security and a Goods Vehicle Movement document.
Completing the document was straightforward and I made sure every item was clearly identified including our boats covers and ended with 77 items for 9 boats.
Using the Carnet
- Leaving the UK
It took a few calls to trace where the Carnet was to be stamped. Eventually, HMRC gave me the phone number of the office at Portsmouth. We were advised that the same office was used for freight or normal traffic and described where the office was.
We arrived at Portsmouth about five hours early as we didn’t want time to be an issue. We were sent to a waiting area as earlier ferries were still being loaded. I found the Border Force office and got the Carnet stamped. The officer was very helpful as they went through the Carnet and showed me where all of the other stamps needed to go.
- Arriving in France
The ferry docked at around 6:30 am and unloaded. Coming down the ramp I could see a turning into the freight area and questioned a member of the Brittany Ferries staff about getting the carnet
stamped. They didn’t know, but I saw another boat trailer coming off the ferry from the freight boat bay and pointed to them, so the official sent me that way. We waited with several other trailers and
their drivers all destined for Libourne. They had all used a freight forwarder to assist with the transactions, appear to have purchased documents that they did not need and had all travelled as freight, which does get you a free breakfast on board – but at what cost!
The French customs officer did not arrive until 9am to collect all the Carnets and get them stamped in an office.
Returning to England
On the return, the trailer and its contents were inspected for the first time when French officials looked around for illegal immigrants. The carnet stamping was straightforward once we had found the office and an extremely disinterested customs official obliged again without even looking through the list of items – never mind the actual trailer contents.
On return to the UK, the boat unloaded at around 7:00 am, but the UK customs were at work. We were sent down the red lane and handed over the carnet. The customs official checked that we had filled it in correctly, went off with the forms and returned in five minutes all stamped.
Conclusion
Overall, the actual management of the carnet on the journey was fine. One really did feel like it was a paperwork exercise that no one was very interested in. I believe that going directly to Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce saved us around £250-£300 and made the whole process painless.
We returned with 9 gold medals between us and some great memories, so thanks Pauline for yours and the teams help.
(Nigel and Graham Price approaching the line winning F (60-65 years) coxless pairs)
Keith Lawton and Alex Barnett happy with their win in D (45-50 years) double sculls.