Fraudulent Yacht Shippers

Last year I inadvertently got my employer hooked into a shipping scam while trying to ship a sizable superyacht to Asia. They scammed us for hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are extremely slick and have ready answers to everything but had zero intention of shipping the yacht once they got the deposit. I would like to name them in this forum if not to do anything else but to prevent other captains and yacht owners from falling into the same trap that I did.

Not at all. I have spent a lot of time trying to obtain justice thinking the Attorney General of Florida and the FMC would move to take these conmen out. But they only provide a safe for these thrives to proliferate. Taking legal action what a laugh, costs more than what we have already lost to the these shysters. Protected again. I have publish articles on my experience (too long to go into here) and it was not a pretty situation. I know of at least 10 other partie that were fooled for a total running into millions of dollars.

Hesitant to name them, hell no. They are based in Ft. Lauderdale. The parent company trades under Geologistics with sub companies, Yacht Exports and Ocean Trade Lines.

Beware of these fraudsters, they are slick, professional and well schooled in shipping yacht procedures. They are at every boat show in Florida. If I can prevent just one guy from being taken in I will be happy

You are 100% correct there. My apologies.

When I started my dealings with these crooks the BBB had them with an A+ rating. They had a string of glowing email referrals a mile long saying just how great they were. I was to find out later they create these bogus email addresses themselves. Goes to show do not believe everything you read on the internet until you can verify your findings from a second independent source. These guys have burned some big players and their time will soon come.

Attorney General and FMC

Both the FMC and the AG replied to my complaints by saying it is a contractual dispute and they recommended that we take legal action. I know of at least 3 others that lodged complaints and were told the same thing. We were also told that there was insufficient complaints to warrant an investigation into their practices. My employer decided not to send good money after bad and dropped out after receiving legal advise. It comes down to intent and that can be hard to prove. Remember conmen, they make a living out of loopholes and grey areas in the law. For reference I have attached the letter sent to the AG.


Ms Pam Bondi
Attorney General,
Office of Attorney General
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
United States of America


Dear Ms Bondi,

I am a private yacht Captain working for XXXX. My employer is an American citizen, but primarily works and resides in the XXXX. I am writing this letter to you because I believe we (my employer and I) have been the victim of fraud by a business operating in the state of Florida. In December 2011, I was asked by my employer to act on his behalf in purchasing an old 127 foot power yacht which was offered for sale in Florida. The purchase price was 3 million dollars. It was our plan to purchase the yacht and ship it to Asia for use by my employer. I began to inquire about the companies that transport large yachts using cargo ships. I made a number of enquiries with these companies to obtain quotations. I was attracted to a company called Yacht Exports as their quote was considerably less expensive than most of the others. I was also impressed with their salesman, Mr XXXX. I met him personally a number of times and spent numerous hours discussing the details of shipping of such a sizeable yacht. He came across as highly motivated, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and he answered all questions to my satisfaction. On the 13th of January 2012, I signed their contract (acting on behalf of my employer) for the transportation of the yacht from Port Everglades, Florida to Singapore. The total price for shipment was $267,136.00, of which 50% was to be paid upon signing the contract and the remaining 50% due 10 days before the yacht was to be shipped. The contract also clearly stated that we could cancel at any time prior to the actual shipment by written notification and 100% of the deposit would be returned. I was told the date of shipment would be between the 9th to the 16th of March 2012, dependent upon when the ship would arrive in Port Everglades. I was not given the name of the ship. A few weeks before this date, I was notified by Yacht Exports that due to circumstances beyond their control, the ship planned for transporting the yacht was not available. I was told they were looking into securing transportation on the next available ship. This ship would be departing Port Everglades on the 6th of April 2012. I was told to plan on bringing the yacht to the Port Everglades on April 2nd in preparation for loading aboard this ship. As the April date came nearer, I became more and more concerned about whether they were really going to ship the yacht on this date. Things did not seem right and I became suspicious of their intentions as I was not told the name of the ship. I was not told the exact location in the port where I should bring the yacht. In fact, I wasn’t given any instructions or provided documentation I was expecting, such as shipping insurance documents or a loading diagram. Finally, I was never asked about the other 50% payment which was to be paid 10 days before the shipment. On 28th of March, I tried desperately to reach Yacht Exports to find out about some of these details but I was unable to reach them. I left several voicemails but no one returned my call. I sent several emails but never received a reply. Finally, on Friday evening (March 29th) I received a terse email from Yacht Exports stating that the ship planned for transporting the yacht had changed its rotation and would not be available. I was informed the shipment would be postponed yet again until another vessel could be obtained. When I inquired about the name of the vessel to ship the yacht, I was told they could not give this information for reasons of confidentially. I became quite concerned and called and asked for a face to face meeting with the CEO of Global Relogistics, Mr XXXX and Mr XXXX. This meeting occurred on the 10th of April. In this meeting, I expressed my frustration at what had happened and the delay after delay. I was personally assured by Mr XXXX that the yacht would be shipped by the end of May 2012 at the very latest. They also told me that if they did not ship the yacht by that time, they would be more than happy to refund 100% of deposit as was clearly provided for in the contract. At this time, I was beginning to suspect their honesty, so I had prepared a letter and asked them to sign it stating what we had just agreed in the meeting, that they would ship the yacht by the end of May for else would refund the deposit so I could find another shipper. Both Mr XXXX and Mr XXXX declined to sign my letter but instead told me they would send me an email the next day stating the same thing that was in my letter. He told me his email would be as binding as my signed letter. I received an email which was different than what was discussed in the meeting. Their email did not mention a refund of the deposit, but only stated they would issue a “credit”. I called Mr XXXX on the phone asked for a clarification of this point. I was reassured that they had just used an imprecise word in the email, and, if they did not ship the yacht by the end of May, they would be happy to refund all of the deposit. In hind sight they were attempting to be evasive, being very careful not to put anything in writing that could be used against them at a later date. When I relayed the details of the meeting and their follow-up email to my employer, he was unhappy and sensed there was something dishonest in their dealings. He asked me to look into other arrangements for shipping the yacht just in case they didn’t ship it by their latest promised date (end of May). I began to seek quotes for other companies for this contingency. Apparently, someone from one of these companies informed Yacht Exports that I was once again seeking quotes. I received a call from XXXX the following week. He accused me of jeopardizing my shipping contract with them by shopping around. He seemed to be under the impression that by doing this, I had somehow breached their contract. He said because of this, there was nothing more they could do for us regarding shipment of the yacht. He stated the file was now being turned over to their customer services (legal) department. After discussing this development with my employer and our local attorney, I sent a letter to Yacht Exports to cancel their shipment and requested a refund of the deposit as provided by the contract. I sent this letter by registered mail; however I never received any reply or acknowledgement. I then proceeded to find another company to ship the yacht. I finally selected Sevenstar Yacht Transport. When I began to discuss what Yacht Exports had done in our case with the other companies in the yacht transportation area, I learned some very disturbing news. The other companies informed me that Yacht Exports didn’t have the qualified staff or the infrastructure to load large yachts on a cargo ship or to unload the yacht at the destination. It seemed everything I had been told before my Mr XXXX and Mr XXXX was a lie. I learned their primary business is not shipping yachts, but scamming customers. They post fictitious shipping schedule to brokers and potential clients over the internet to entice more victims to this scam. They lure customers into their trap, collect a sizable deposit, then start the endless game of delay tactics. I became aware from my discussions with Sevenstar that more than a few of their customers were prior victims of this scam by Yacht Exports. I was told a few had managed to work out an arrangement where Sevenstar performed as subcontractor to Yacht Exports to get their yacht shipped. The customer usually had to pay more (sometimes considerably more as was in our case) than have been previously agreed by Yacht Exports. But using this route, they were sometimes able to recover some of their deposit. I agreed to give this a try. Unfortunately, Yacht Exports was not willing to do this even though they were offered a fair settlement by Sevenstar to conclude this situation amicably. The only offer we received from Yacht Exports was a refund of $53,414.40 allowing them to keep $80,140.00 as a profit for non-performance on their part. My employer and I decided against accepting this offer as we decided that we were entitled to a full refund of the deposit not a partial refund as was offered. We continued to proceed with having Sevenstar ship our yacht as we had lost trust in them to ship the yacht. As of this date, Yacht Exports have refused to refund any of the deposit and have indicated their belief that we have breached their contract by engaging another company to ship the yacht. They have gone as far as to demand we pay them the remaining 50% of the shipping fees, at one point, even threatening to put a lien on the yacht to prevent Sevenstar from shipping it. They have also threatened legal action against us to secure the other portion of the amount as they believe they are entitled to it.

I realize it is not the responsibility of the Attorney General State of Florida to become involved with contractual disputes but I firmly believe this is not a contractual dispute but a premeditated con game, thinly disguised to look like a contractual dispute. I implore you to investigate my claims and you will find the truth to what I am saying. It is my strong belief that their pattern of conduct in our case is not the exception, but is their normal, standard operating procedure. Yacht Exports basically runs a fraudulent operation where they lure unsuspecting customers into their scam, collecting sizable deposits and playing an endless game of delay tactics while making increasingly ridiculous excuses until the customer loses all patience. When the customer finally attempts to ship using another shipper, they claim they have breached their contract allowing these criminals to rationalize keeping all their money. They have not only done this to my employer and me, they have done this to virtually all their customers. I am confident if you investigate this and talk to their previous customers, you will find this to be true. I am asking you to stop this continuing scam and bring these criminals to justice.

Shipping Scammers

I know of an American guy that got blatantly taken in August 2012. He was trying to ship his yacht from Brisbane, Australia to Seattle, Washington. He contacted Yacht Exports and was told that they had a Swire's owned ship leaving in a few days so he would have to pay $86,000 immediately to secure the passage, which he did. Never heard another word from them. They refused to answer calls and emails. He contacted Swire's and was told that they were contacted by YE to provide a quote which they did but no booking eventuated. The ship was in place, the money was right but YE never made the booking but took full payment. This is the kind of people they are. Be well warned and do your home work before shipping your yacht. Stick to the reputable companies. Do not get pressured because you have been given a tight deadline. The old saying applies, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.