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Djibouti - Clearance

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COVID-19 coronavirus: New procedures are in place for arriving yachts – see Biosecurity for details.

ARRIVAL FORMALITIES

Advance Notification:

Use of an agent is mandatory at this time. See Clearance Agents. Get a few quotes for entry costs as some cruisers have reported being quoted silly amounts. Be sure to communicate your programme to your agent well in advance of
your arrival so all the necessary arrangements can be made. Boat documentation, crew list and exit zarpe from your last port must
all be sent in advance. Your agent will present these to the Coatguard
and Navy so they know who you are when you show up on AIS, meaning you
shouldn’t experience any problems on approaches to Djibouti.

Once in Djibouti waters, monitor Channel 16 at all times so the Coast
Guard/Navy and authorities can communicate with you as you approach the
harbor. If nothing heard, call Port Control Djibouti when 10NM from the harbor on VHF Channel 10 (they may not answer). The Djibouti Navy operates on VHF Channel 16.

General Process:

Remember this is a Muslim country, so the weekend is on Friday and
Saturday and all major offices, government, and businesses are closed. 

On entering the port you will be met by a Coast Guard boat and escorted to an anchorage which is likely to be near the Coastguard station (Port de Peche – pink and yellow striped building). On the eastern side of the bay there is good protection and holding and
it is close to the marina area for tying up your dinghy when going
ashore (between $5 and $10 a time), plus away from all the container
ship activity.

Contact your agent as soon as you enter port and they will meet you with all the necessary forms.

Immigration and the Port Captain are located in the commercial port on the extreme NW side at the coal terminal. Their offices are reached by climbing the steel vertical ladders on the long, vertical, concrete wall at the coal terminal. There is no floating dock or lower dock as it is designed for tugs, pilot boats and naval warships with a high freeboard – hence completely unfriendly to small dinghies. You have to tie your dinghy to the ladder and climb up. At low tide, this might be 13 feet, and at high tide 6 feet. Since the steel ladders are heavily rusted and barnacle-encrusted, it is difficult to climb up and down. Furthermore, the ground and buildings of the port are covered in black coal dust so it is a very dirty experience. Thankfully it only has to be done when clearing in and out.

It’s unlikely you will have to use your dinghy as your agent will be able to provide a water taxi service to shore (for a fee).

  • Quarantine: See the Quarantine Officer first. Call Aden (Port Captain – see below) on arrival who will arrange this for you. The Quarantine Officer will take the temperature of all crew and will want to see International Vaccination Travel Record books and check for Yellow Fever vaccination.
  • Port Captain “Capitainerie du port”: Captain Aden, the Harbor Master, has good English and is very friendly and helpful. Check-in procedures are simple. Tel: +25377819639
  • Immigration Office: All crew will be issued with visas which are likely to be valid for 30 days. See fees for charges. You will also be issued with a port pass.
  • Coast Guard: May board your vessel requesting a copy of ship papers and other documentation. They may do a quick search of the vessel.

DOMESTIC CRUISING

To sail in Djibouti waters a cruising permit is required. This is straightforward to obtain. See Documents for more details.

CLEARING OUT

The skipper can complete outward clearance at Immigration on behalf of the whole crew.

On clearing out there are port fees to pay based on how many days you have spent at anchor in the country. See fees for more details. It is highly likely the Port Captain will want to be paid in local currency, so don’t use it all up before clearing out. Give officials 48 hours notice so they have time to prepare all the paperwork.

Last updated:  December 2021

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Djibouti was last updated 3 years ago.

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  1. February 27, 2023 at 1:10 PM
    profile photo
    sue-richards says:

    Report received from Sailing Vessel TUVALU from Barcelona, Spain [www.tuvalubarcelona.es]

    Update Gulf of Aden:

    Between the 12th to the 26th of February 2023, we sailed with our Dufour 40 Performance TUVALU from the Maldives (Uligam) to Djibouti. It was a fast trip with most of the day’s nice winds between 10 to 15 knots, so we have been running the engine only for around 48 hours.

    The European MSCHOA and the British UKTMO who are protecting the area are still present, contrary to the latest news (saying that they will cease military protection at the end of January 23). We had flyovers twice by a military airplane, talking to them on VHFCh. 16. We also sent to both organizations our daily position through IridiumGo, starting the reports once we left Maldives. We had absolutely no issues with pirates.

    We sailed the 600 miles of the ETCM virtual channel in between the transiting cargo ships channel, in a 2 miles-wide area. There are many cargo ships, and at all times you can see several of them – so, you are never alone! But if you are sailing in the area in between, then you are free of them and it’s quite safe.

    We left our AIS on, as MSCHOA recommend yachts do, as well as our PredictWind Tracking page: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV-Tuvalu/

  2. February 19, 2023 at 7:40 AM
    flyingfish says:

    We are about to leave Djbouti after an enjoyable weeks stay. We heartily recommend Ahssan as agent. His will go beyond to help and while Djibouti is expensive his fee is reasonable. The 2 day trip to Lac Abbe is fantastic.

  3. August 8, 2020 at 11:56 AM
    marjolein says:

    I just want to let you know that Djibouti is open since 17th of July. I saw that it still stated that it is closed, but that information is not correct anymore. I hope someone can adjust it.. thanks!

    Marjolein