Buenos Aires - Clearance
For full details on clearing into and out of Argentina, see Noonsite’s Argentina Formalities.
All vessels over 50 tons are required to employ a pilot (at a cost of US$500) whenever entering or leaving the harbor.
General Clearance:
Port control should be contacted on VHF Channel 16 on arrival.
Sufficient time should be allowed for the long trip up the Plate River.
A good place to stop on arrival for clearance is at the Yacht Club Argentino, reached via a buoyed channel. This is in the centre of the city and they are very helpful to visiting yachts. They will help you complete all the initial forms required on arrival and direct you to the various offices. Both the Yacht Club Argentino and Yacht Club Puerto Madero now ask for the boat and insurance papers before access is permitted to the marina.
All formalities are normally completed ashore. Offices should be visited in the following order:
- Immigration – based at the cruise ship terminal, not far from the Retiro train station. It’s not recommended to walk there after dark. It’s possible to take a bus or taxi from the yacht club.
- Coastguard (Prefectura) – there are a number of offices, depending on where you are moored. For those in the north of Buenos Aires (e.g. Barlovento), the Prefectura is somewhere in the north. For those at downtown Yacht Club Argentino, the responsible Prefectura is across the street from the immigration office. For yachts at the Puerto Madero marina in central Buenos Aires, the Prefectura offices are at Puerto Madero (between the two basins), easy walking distance from the yacht club.
- Customs – at the Buquebus terminal in central Buenos Aires.
- It is more common for anti-drug dogs to search visiting yachts here.
Clearing out:
On departure, visit the Prefectura office where you cleared in, the evening before departure and fill in some more forms.
Last updated: February 2020
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Port Navigation
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We stayed in YCA (Darsena Norte) in November 2019. It is advisable to e-mail ahead of time, indicating your ETA and desired length of stay. We were offered two nights free, thereafter it was about 50 USD per day for our 14m boat.
Puerto Madero has similar prices per day, but a reasonable discount per week. Note that bridge times are different during the weekend.
We also informed about staying (for free) at San Isidro, but did not get a reply to our request, other than that they would consider it.
Repair facilities, chandleries and sailmakers are almost all in the North, which you can reach by train if you are staying at YCA or Puerto Madero.
Clearing in: immigration (at the cruise terminal, avoid walking there after dark), prefectura (at PM if you are staying there / at prefectura across the street from immigration if you are at YCA – although you may want to try at PM, as it is closer) and then aduana (at Buquebus terminal). At the prefectura we were told to go to aduana first, but there they insisted we see prefectura first (so insist at the prefectura). At aduana you should get clearance for the same amount of time as your personal visa. Insist if they give you less time. Also, upon checking out aduana told us to clear out with them as well, even though we were going to stay in Argentina. The next day, the head of aduana confirmed that we didn’t have to clear out the vessel. Our friend Omar (wetdoc) was very helpful in getting all things organised (and so much more).