Corona: What the extension of the travel warning means for sailors

The German government's surprising decision to close the Federal Foreign Office's existing, worldwide Travel warning extended until 14 June This creates a difficult situation in the charter market and also for owners with ships in the Mediterranean. This could lead to a tricky situation for charter customers: If some southern European countries actually open their harbours by mid-May and relax the entry bans for Germans, as is currently being considered in Croatia and Greece, this could be carte blanche for charter companies to signal to customers: You can use your boat with me in June. The company would then have fulfilled its part of the contract - and could even refuse to rebook or cancel the charter. So far, however, such a scenario has only occurred in very few cases.

However, if a 14-day quarantine continues to apply on the German side until 14 June for those returning from other countries, most owners and charter customers will probably not make the trip. There is also a further risk: although it is possible to ignore existing travel warnings and still travel, the Federal Foreign Office is already saying that there will be no further repatriation action in the event of any renewed tightening due to coronavirus in the country of travel. In plain language, this means that if someone flies to Croatia, Greece or another country that opens before 14 June and then closes its borders again at short notice due to a second wave of coronavirus, they are on their own. As airlines are very quick to cancel connections in such cases, this can become a trap.

Another problem is the flights themselves. As the travel warning issued by the Federal Foreign Office practically entitles package holidaymakers to cancel their trips free of charge, the flight market from German airports to the relevant destinations will probably be largely cancelled until 14 June, as the majority of tourists will simply be absent. Most tour operators are cancelling their trips immediately after the current deadlines set by the Federal Foreign Office anyway. Sailors are individual travellers who rarely fill a charter plane. Only those who can reach their own boat or the charter base by car can avoid the problem.

Although the announcements by some Mediterranean countries that they will open their marinas in mid-May do not automatically mean that chartering will be possible there again, a potential conflict is looming. Yesterday's conference of EU foreign ministers apparently failed to agree on an EU-coordinated approach with deadlines and opening dates.