Here is a transcript of this guide:-
G’day and welcome to MatesBoat’s Guide to the Domestic Commercial Vessel Application Process.
During this guide, we’ll be looking at each page of the Non-Survey Vessel Registration Application.
We’ll go through it step-by-step where we’ll discuss what you’ll need prior to making the application to make it easier.
We will talk about the classes that you can apply for under Exemption 02 and whereabouts in Victoria you can operate under this exemption.
We will then be discussing what to do next with your new commercial registration. You can list it on MatesBoat™ and start renting your boat out as a bareboat rental.
First, let’s have a quick overview of MatesBoat™. We’re a peer-to-peer boat sharing marketplace, which is allowing more of the community to have access to affordable boating experiences. We’re offering the platform to the sharing community and also to commercial operators.
We’ve got a backend platform that’s got inbuilt payment systems, calendars, and rating systems to ensure it’s a simple and easy to use platform, and to instill trust with the rating system. We’re a commission based system, we only get paid if we rent your boat out so it’s in our best interest to market your vessel and get it rented out.
Let’s have a look at an overview of the actual application process.
What is a DCV? DCV stands for Domestic Commercial Vessel, and is the registration you need to operate your vessel as a bareboat or Hire and Drive boat rental or as a boat charter service. DCVs are issued by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, or AMSA, and there are basically two paths to getting your domestic commercial vessel registration.
The first one is obtaining a full survey for your vessel. The second one is an exemption put in place by AMSA, which allows for certain boats to be registered as a commercial vessel without having to go through the stringent requirements of a full vessel survey.
The MatesBoat’s platform is basically focusing on the exemption to Non-Survey vessel registrations.
Now, the reason why we’re doing this is because it’s less onerous of the two and, if you fit the criteria for the Exemption 02, then the application is made online and you aren’t required to have a full survey.
During this document, we go through each of the pages, but first you need to know if your vessel will be eligible under this registration. Please go to our video and article at the link there, https://matesboat.com.au/ex-02-non-survey-vessel-eligibility. And that will explain the eligibility requirements for Exemption 02.
The cost of getting your domestic commercial vessel registration under the Exemption 02 is $226, and it’s a registration for five years. The second part of, once you have your domestic commercial vessel registration, is to get a Certificate of Operation from AMSA. The cost is $214 and the certificate is issued by AMSA and it basically will nominate the operational area that you’re able to rent your boat or charter your boat in. It will also give you how many persons are allowed to be taken on your boat and some other restrictions.
Let’s get into the application.
We head to the AMSA website and make the application for domestic commercial vessel registration. First page you’ll come to is this form guide and you can follow through that and down the bottom we want to apply for a Non-Survey vessel approval for the first time, if it is your first time. If not, click the second one. The next page is about you and it talks about whether you’re an individual organisation or a Trust. That’s for you to decide on what you want to do there. In this case, we’ve clicked individual. You’ll fill in your details.
The next part is, what type of vessel is this application for? Now, for Exemption 02, we must be applying under a Class 2, 3 or 4 vessel, less than 12 meter long operating only in Class D or E waters. If you want to go outside of that, then unless you are one of the training vessels or a rescue volunteer or firefighting service, we’re going to want to be applying for the Class 2 or 3 or 4 vessel.
You can decide on whether you’re doing more than one above but I would suggest that the answer to that question is no! As you can see there, we’ve clicked no.
Okay, eligibility questions and vessel details. Your vessel name, if it’s got a name, what the current unique vessel identifier number is, your vessel configuration if it’s a Power Monohull or a sailing vessel. etc, and there’s a dropdown menu there, select the most appropriate.
Now, the location the vessel operates from or is intended to operate from. Just the area again to be, it could be Port Phillip Bay down Sorento, or something along those lines.
The length of the boat, now for Exemption 02, it cannot be greater than 12 meters long. Maximum design speed, whole material, the fuel type. We cannot use petrol inboard engines under this exemption. If you’ve got a petrol inboard engine, unfortunately you’re going to need a full survey done on your boat.
You can find all this information if you Google your specifications for your vessel, and most of it’ll also be on the Australian build plate, which we’ll get to shortly.
Once again, will the vessel have an inboard petrol engine? The answer to that needs to be no. Otherwise, you cannot use this exemption. You can follow along. The rest of those is going to carry dangerous goods and it’s going to be fitted with a net reel deck loading device or crane. Most of those should be no. If it isn’t, you cannot… there’s more requirements for your application. Again, down the bottom here, is it going to be a petrol, sorry for oil or gas industry or a sister vessel? Most of those will be no, they should be no. Is it primarily used for towing operations? It’s a no, it’s not talking about water skiing or anything i.e Tow sports or anything like that.
The service categories we spoke about at the start of the presentation, there’s only two classes that we’re using for this exemption. Now they’re Class 2 or Class 4. You’re either a charter service Class 2 or you are a Class 4 Hire and Drive or bareboat rental. So you need to decide on that. If you’re a Class 2 charter service, then the person operating the vessel will need to have their Certificate of Competency, which is a Coxswain certificate for the waters that you are operating in. We’re not going to discuss that here.
If you are a Hire and Drive or bareboat rental, you’ll select Class 4. Now, the type of waters that you’re going to operate in is Class D or Class E waters. Class D being partially smooth waters. Class E, smooth waters or inland waters and lakes. Maximum number of passengers allowed under the Exemption 02 is four. You are not allowed to have berthed passengers using this exemption. Berthed passengers being overnight passengers. You’ll need a full survey. You can’t get a boat, put it in a marina, get Exemption 02 and register under a Class 4 and rent it out at night. You just can’t do that. It’s got to have a full survey on that vessel.
Next stage is continue to print and continue with your online submission, yes. Put your email address in, and then it’ll ask you for some supporting documentation. The first one is they need a photo of your vessel, make sure you have a photo of your vessel available that you can easily upload. The next one is upload the photo of your builders plate. Okay, we’ll discuss that at the end, but they’re the two additional items you’ll need along with answers to the earlier questions about your maximum speeds and length of your vessel and the other questions that we did at the start there. Do you want to upload documents to support this application? You can select yes or no. If you have something else that you wish to send into them, it’s up to you.
This is your declaration and lodgement. Read through that and if you agree to all those, you click yes. Now, that’s the end of the application that goes off to AMSA. AMSA then reviews the application, looks at the photos and decides on whether they will issue a domestic commercial vessel registration for your boat.
So what is a Australian builders plate? Australian builders plate was introduced in 2005 to help the government to improve the safety of recreational boats, and it provides some information about your boat, the number of persons, the maximum speed and the weight and the buoyancy type for your vessel. You should have one of those on it if it was produced after 2005. Look for that, get a photo of it so you can upload it in your application.
We’ll have a quick look at the service classes. As I said earlier, we’re going to be looking at the Non-Survey requirements, a non-passenger vessel Class 2. A Non-passenger vessel allows up to 12 . Anything over 12 becomes a passenger vessel. Class 2 is for your charter services, and once again, your skipper or your master is required to have a Certificate of Competency, a Coxswain certificate.
If you are renting your boat as a Hire and Drive vessel and the hire is using it for recreational purposes, then it’s Class 4. Bareboat rental or Hire and Drive is Class 4. Charter Services are Class 2. Fishing vessels are for your commercial fishing vessels, not for what we’re looking at here. If you want to run a charter service and take people fishing, it’s Class 2.
Let’s look at the operational areas. We’ve got designated as partially smooth water operations is Class D. Smooth water operations is Class E. For example, Class D, parts of Port Phillip Bay are Class D. Parts of Port Phillip Bay are actually Class E, and that’s more towards the entrance to the Yarra River. Once you go into the Yarra River, you are then Class E. If you want to operate in the Yarra River, take people on cruises, you’ll be Class 2E.
If you are renting your boat out as a bareboat rental in Port Phillip Bay, you would want Class 4D. You need to determine the waters you’re going to be operating. If you’re operating at Lake Eldon or the Murray River, it’ll be operational Area E. If you’re Hire and Drive, that vessel it’ll be Class 4E. And if you are going to take a Charter Service or take people up and down the river, it’ll be Class 2E.
Let’s look at the designated waters for Victoria. We’ve only looked at Victoria in this guide, so you can read through the various areas here. We look at mainly Port Phillip Bay and Western Port covered under Class D there. They’re the areas that you can operate in, so when you make your application for your Certificate of Operation, you need to make sure that you’re in compliance with these classifications. And Class E waters includes all in land, waters, rivers and lakes. And it also has some designated areas being in Port Phillip Bay, some of the areas there and you can read through there. For example, Mallacoota inside the entrance is all Class E waters.
So next steps to earning some money with your vessel. You apply for your domestic commercial vessel registration.
You’ll apply for your Certificate of Operation, your COO, create a safety management system document, which there’s templates on the AMSA website. We also have information on the MatesBoat™ platform in our frequently asked questions, and in our news and articles. You can look those up. There’s templates there. We can help you out with more information if you need that. It’s just a document to explain to any of the users or any person on the boat what the safety procedures are, how to use various pieces of equipment. It’s just basically an OH&S document for your vessel.
Now you need to make sure your safety equipment is appropriate for the class of waters you’re operating in. We also have information on the MatesBoat platform in regards to that, and we list it on MatesBoat and we can start earning some money, get some tax incentives, and get more people out on the water. I hope this has been an informative guide to getting your domestic commercial vessel registration to be able to rent a boat, create a fishing charter service, and hopefully we will see you on the platform shortly.
If you need to get in contact with me, I’m Craig. Email address is there. Hope to hear from you soon.
