BOAT BUILDING IN MEXICO- rules and regs???

[JamesG]

Hey, does anyone know who i need to talk to in order to build a boat in Mexico? What are the rules and regulations? I need to talk to the equivalent of the US Coast Guard, but in Mexico i guess. I also heard that the ABS is not envolved down there.

Please let me know ASAP because I'm heading down to Mexico to build a vessel in less than a month.

Thanks,
James

[hoytedow]

Watch out for the Mexican Narco-Navy.

[mark775]

Ten paciencia. I will find out for you in a few days. What type of boat? What are you going to do with it? What dimensions? Where are you going to take it after it is built?

[JamesG]

Ten paciencia. I will find out for you in a few days. What type of boat? What are you going to do with it? What dimensions? Where are you going to take it after it is built?

Mark775,

It will be a floating concert stage for spring break that I will want to get registered as a vessel in Mexico. It will only be used in Mexico. It will be about 50'X100' and pulled or pushed by a boat. Or it will have outboard motors on it. I plan to build it using JetFloat or a similar modular dock system. I will put sand on it to dress it up like a tropical island for people to enjoy while they watch a concert.

This vessel will be used in calm waters and in the rough open ocean.

I would like to operate this vessel in cabo san lucas, mexico.

Thank you so much for helping me! Let me know if you need more information.

-James

[JamesG]

Ten paciencia. I will find out for you in a few days. What type of boat? What are you going to do with it? What dimensions? Where are you going to take it after it is built?

BTW, there is a guy who built a floating plastic bottle island (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island) near Cancuun, so if he was able to get his registered with the Mexican government then I should be able to get this registered too.

[Zed]

There are rules in Mexico? Really?

[lewisboats]

Grease the right palms and anything is possible.

[Ike]

Having spent many years in the USCG Office of Boating Safety, dealing with standards for boat builders I never once dealt with any agency in Mexico that did this. We dealt with many other countries but not Mexico. But we did work with builders in Mexico who were exporting boats from Mexico to the US. So if you are building in Mexico and plan to sell in the US then you need to meet US standards.

However to answer your question (sort of) the only reference I could find was that Mexico is a member of ISO and the bureau that handles that is

Dirección General de Normas
Ave. Puente de Tecamachalco N° 6
Col. Lomas de Tecamachalco
Sección Fuentes
MX-C.P. 53950 Naucalpan de Juárez, Edo. de México

Tel: +52 55 57 29 94 80
Fax: +52 55 55 20 97 15
E-mail: iso-mex@economia.gob.mx
Web: www.economia.gob.mx

You might want to contact them to see if there is a specific bureau for building boats and if they require meeting ISO standards for recreational boats.

How good is your spanish? Habla espanol?

Theyd do have an equivalant to the Coast Guard that is very small and part of their navy, but they don't do anything like this as far as I am aware. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Search_and_Rescue_(Mexico)

It is part of what they call the Naval Militia Infantry

Here's a link to their Navy web site http://www.semar.gob.mx/sitio/

[JamesG]

Having spent many years in the USCG Office of Boating Safety, dealing with standards for boat builders I never once dealt with any agency in Mexico that did this......

Thanks for all the info. I only plan on using this vessel for a few months during spring break and don't plan on selling it so maybe i won't run into any problems. I'm thinking maybe i'll just deal with problems as they come up. The only thing i'm wondering about is if customers are paying to see a concert if that changes things. We'll see...

[mark775]

James, I've got a request through my wife, a beaner, to ask some members of her family who were and are connected to the federal and two municipal governments. This may take a bit of time, because I know that none of them have anything to do with boats (but they give straight answers).

[apex1]

Ike,

nearly nowhere around the world (I am not aware of one nation), a body like the US coast guard is involved in that business, thats very specific in the USA.

But all the major classification societies are present there (and ISO you mentioned).

Regards
Richard

[JamesG]

James, I've got a request through my wife, a beaner, to ask some members of her family who were and are connected to the federal and two municipal governments. This may take a bit of time, because I know that none of them have anything to do with boats (but they give straight answers).

Perfect! I'm definitely interested to see what they have to say. Thank you so much Mark.

-james

[Ike]

Checking out other forums, I see you asked this same question on several other forums. Some of the answers we very good. You might want to share them with members of this forum. The following one was particularly interesting.

Well, an actual equivalent of the Coast Guard is probably the wrong way to state it. There is, on paper, at least, a Mexican Maritime authority. Now, I don't know if it has changed, but I do know that ABS was not authorized to carry out statutory reviews, surveys, etc. on behalf of Mexican flag vessels. They were only done on a case by case basis. Now, I do believe that any entity that requests ABS (or any other IACS Class Society Member) to carry out this kind of work would get the permission.

I had direct dealings with this some years ago with a vessel being converted for work in Mexico. We spent the entire time during the conversion from an old Candian supply boat into a four point diving vessel with the statutory review and surveys being done for Panama. Of course two weeks before delivery, we find out that it all now had to be for Mexico. No, no Mexican Coast Guard showed up, and I was given the authority to act on their behalf.

Remember, most Class societies surveyors perform two functions when boarding your vessels. There are Class surveys, that deal with maintenance of Class (structural and mechanical) and the Statutory Surveys, in which they act on behalf of the Vessel's Flag Authority (SOLAS, MARPOL, Load Line and the different IMO Carrier Codes). Now, there is some overlap, however they each stand on their own. Of course these days, there are also the ISM audits, too; but I don't believe that the regular field surveyors do the audits. I could be wrong. It has been a few years since I worked as a Class Surveyor.

I don't know that Bender has a shipyard anywhere outside of Mobile. TNG Veracruz is operated by a Norwegian company. Chen Morrison has a shipyard with a new drydock in Alvarado (between Veracruz and Quatza) and is advertising their construction capabilities. There are several steel fabrication yards in Tampico (Madero).
http://gcaptain.com/forum/professional-mariner-forum/3954-boat-building-mexico-rules-regs.html

This is the web site of the Mexican Maritime Authority (Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes) http://portal.sct.gob.mx/

[JamesG]

I didn't even know anybody had replied to my post at that other website, but it's really blowing up! Its on the same exact topic as this thread.

http://gcaptain.com/forum/professional-mariner-forum/3954-boat-building-mexico-rules-regs.html

[SamSam]

How much money do you plan to invest? How many people will be on it? Will it pay for itself?

[Ike]

I read your description of what you want to do with the barge. In mexico that may be OK. However in the US it may be a whole different story. It could be construed as a vessel taking passengers for hire. There are plenty of floating restaurants, gambling barges, bars etc but they are all considered vessels taking passengers for hire. That means you have to submit plans to the USCG and it has to meet US requirements, even non motorized barges. If it's built in Mexico it may not even be permitted because of the Jones Act. I suggest you contact a USCG Marine Safety Office and ask them some specific questions.

In Mexico it is probably Puertos Y Marina Mercantes you are looking for (That's Ports and Merchant Marine) http://www.sct.gob.mx/puertos-y-marina-mercante/