What an APA Is

An advance provisioning allowance is a sum paid before a charter begins so the captain can buy things during it. The charter fee covers the yacht and the crew; the APA covers everything consumed on board — fuel, food, drink, berthing, water and electricity taken from shore — and it is spent at cost, not at a marked-up rate. It is a float, not a fee. The captain accounts for it before the guests disembark, and whatever has not been spent is handed back.

What the charter fee already covers

The APA only makes sense against what has already been paid for, so start there.

Clause 8 of the MYBA Charter Agreement — the contract most crewed charters in the Mediterranean run on — states that the charter fee includes the yacht “with all its equipment in working order; tools; stores; cleaning materials and basic consumable stores for engine room, deck, galley and cabins; laundry of ship’s linen; the crew’s wages, uniforms and food; the insurance of the Vessel and crew”.

Read that list closely and the shape of the deal appears. The yacht, the people who run it and the ship’s own supplies are bought. Everything the guests themselves consume is not.

One line in it is easy to miss: the crew’s food is in the charter fee. The guests’ food is not.

What the APA pays for

The same clause says the charterer pays, at cost, for all other expenses, and then names them. Fuel for the main engines and generators. Fuel for tenders and water sports equipment. Food and all beverages for the charter party. Berthing dues and other harbour charges, including pilots’ fees, local taxes, divers’ fees, customs formalities and any charges for waste disposal. Water and electricity taken from shore. Ships’ agents’ fees where applicable. Personal laundry. Communications and internet use. The hire or purchase of any special equipment put on board at the guest’s request.

At cost is the phrase that carries the weight. The APA is not a package price and it is not a budget the yacht is allowed to spend up to. It is the guest’s own money, held by the captain, spent on the guest’s behalf at what the thing actually cost.

Fuel is usually the largest line and the most variable. A motor yacht that runs 6 hours a day burns a great deal more than one that moves between two anchorages all week, which is why two identical weeks on the same yacht can produce very different final accounts.

How much it is

The contract does not say. Page one carries a blank marked “Plus: Advance Provisioning Allowance (A.P.A.) (see Clause 8)”, and the figure written into it is agreed before signature.

In practice the trade quotes the APA as a percentage of the charter fee. Published guidance puts it commonly between 30% and 40% on a motor yacht, and lower on a sailing yacht or catamaran, where the fuel bill is smaller. The ranges quoted vary between brokers, and the percentage is an estimate of consumption, not a price.

That distinction matters more than the number. A high APA is not a more expensive charter. It is a larger float against the same costs, and the difference comes back.

How the money is held and spent

The APA does not stay with the broker. Clause 20 requires it to be paid to the captain, or to the owner for onward transmission to the captain, before embarkation, by bank transfer. The captain holds it and spends from it.

Clause 8 then puts two duties on each side.

On the yacht: the captain must advise the charterer, at intervals, how the APA is being disbursed, and the owner must ensure the captain “will exercise due diligence in the expenditure of the APA”. A guest is entitled to know where the money is going while the charter is running, not only afterwards.

On the guest: if the remaining balance becomes insufficient in the light of current expenditure, the charterer must pay the captain enough to maintain an adequate credit balance. A mid-week request to top up is the contract working as written, not a sign that something has gone wrong.

Two smaller provisions are worth knowing before departure. Any bank charges on transferring the APA to the yacht are for the guest’s account, and exchange rates cannot be guaranteed. Payment by cheque or credit card is not normally accepted, because a yacht moves between countries during its season.

The account at the end

Before the guests disembark, the captain presents a detailed account of expenditure with as many supporting receipts as possible. The guest then pays the balance of the expenses, or the captain repays any balance overpaid, as the case may be.

That is the whole reconciliation, and it happens on board rather than weeks later. A guest who wants the account earlier should ask for it earlier — the duty to advise at intervals is already in the contract.

Where money is owed back, ask how it will be returned before the charter ends. Cash on board and a transfer afterwards are both normal, and settling which one applies takes a minute at the start of the week and can take a month at the end of it.

What the APA is not

Four things sit outside it, and confusing any of them with the APA is the common mistake.

  • It is not the security deposit. Under Clause 17 the security deposit is a separate sum, held by the Stakeholder on the owner’s behalf against damage, and refunded without interest on the first working day after the charter ends, or once outstanding questions are settled.
  • It is not commissionable. The broker’s commission is payable on the charter fee and expressly excludes running expenses, so nothing in the APA carries a commission.
  • It does not cover extraordinary expenses. Clause 8 treats special excursions, special equipment, shoreside transport and anything not customarily part of the yacht’s operating costs as separate, payable in advance through the broker’s account or to the captain on boarding, in addition to the APA.
  • It is not the crew gratuity. The contract’s list of what the charterer pays at cost does not mention a tip. Whether a gratuity is taken from the APA or handled separately is for the guest and the captain to settle, and it is a far easier conversation at the beginning of a week than at the end.

What to check before signing

Ask three questions of the figure on page one.

  1. What consumption does this APA assume? A number built on 3 hours under way a day and one built on 6 are not comparable, and the itinerary is the variable.
  2. Which of these costs are already in the charter fee on this yacht? The MYBA list is the default. Page one may vary it.
  3. How and when will an unspent balance be returned? Agree it before departure.

A broker who works on the MYBA form can answer all three from the contract, because all three are in it.