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If the base charter rate on a 50m motor yacht in the Mediterranean is 350,000 dollars per week, the actual cash you wire before boarding is closer to 525,000 dollars. The difference is APA, the Advance Provisioning Allowance, and at 25 to 35 percent of the base fee on a standard MYBA contract it is the line item that catches more first-time charter clients off guard than any other clause in the document.
This is the working guide to what APA actually pays for, how the percentage is set, how reconciliation works, and where to push back when the final accounting lands in your inbox 28 days after the charter ends.
What APA is, in one sentence
APA is a working float held by the broker on the captain's behalf, spent at the captain's discretion against a defined list of operating costs incurred during the charter, and reconciled to the receipt at the end of the trip.
It is not a tip. It is not a service charge. It is not the broker's commission. The broker's commission is paid out of the base fee, not the APA. If a broker tells you APA "includes a service component," ask for the contract clause that says so. There is no such clause in the standard MYBA Worldwide form.
The standard MYBA list of APA expenses
The 2020 MYBA contract, which remains the dominant Mediterranean charter document and is closely mirrored by the AYCA Caribbean form, defines APA spend as the following.
Fuel for main engines, generators, and tenders. Dock fees, port fees, and pilot fees at every stop. Food and beverage for guests, including wine, spirits, and provisioning at sea. Communications expenses, which now includes Starlink data on most modern yachts. Laundry and dry cleaning during the charter. Customs and immigration clearance fees. Crew overtime if the charter exceeds the standard 12-hour service window. Cash for crew shore expenses tied to guest activities, for example a chef going to a market town for a private dinner.
What APA does not cover, contractually, is the captain's salary, the crew's base wages, the yacht's insurance, the yacht's annual flag and registry fees, depreciation, refit work, or normal maintenance. Those sit with the owner and are baked into the base charter fee.
It also does not cover the end-of-charter crew gratuity. That sits on top, at 5 to 15 percent of the base fee depending on region, and it is the next number first-time clients miss. The full mechanics are on our how to tip yacht crew page.
Why the percentage is 25 to 35, and what drives it
The single biggest variable inside the APA is fuel. A 50m motor yacht with twin MTU diesels at cruising speed burns 700 to 900 liters per hour. At a Mediterranean fuel price of 1.40 to 1.80 dollars per liter in 2025, that is 1,000 to 1,600 dollars per cruising hour, or 8,000 to 12,000 dollars on an active day. On a 70m yacht the same number is 15,000 to 22,000 dollars per active day.
If the captain knows the itinerary is mostly at anchor (St Tropez to Cannes and back, for example), APA can be agreed at 25 percent. If the itinerary is long-range (Cannes to Sardinia to Corsica to Sicily and back in seven days), the captain will ask for 30 to 35 percent. If the yacht is a sailing yacht, the percentage is usually 20 to 25 percent, because the fuel envelope is smaller.
A captain who quotes 40 percent for a routine Med itinerary is either flagging a fuel-hungry yacht (older builds, large generators always on, big tender fleet) or padding the float. Ask why. If the answer is "to be safe," push back to 30 percent and add a clause stating any overage above 30 percent requires written guest authorization before being spent.
How APA flows, step by step
There are five moments where APA matters and only five.
The first is the contract signing. The percentage is set, the payment schedule is named, and the escrow account is identified. Read this clause. The standard MYBA form holds APA in the broker's client account, ring-fenced from the broker's operating funds. Smaller charter agencies, including some new market entrants, hold APA in the same operating account as commissions and other fees. That is a yellow flag. We will not work with a broker who cannot show ring-fenced escrow.
The second is the wire. APA wires seven days before charter start. The first half of the base fee, in MYBA terms, wired earlier (60 days out, typically); the balance plus APA wires no later than seven days before boarding. If a broker pushes the APA wire to the day of boarding, that is a process failure not a flexibility favor.
The third is the preference sheet. This is your one written anchor inside the APA. List the wine you will drink, the spirit brands you want stocked, the dietary requirements, the cigar requests, the gym equipment requests, and any spending ceilings. Note: if you do not name a wine list, the chief stew will order a wine list that suits the average charter client at the yacht's price point, and the cost will hit your APA. A 50m yacht's standard charter wine list runs 8,000 to 15,000 dollars per week. If you would rather drink rosé and beer at 2,500 dollars per week, write that down. The captain will spend whatever it takes to meet your stated standard, no more.
The fourth is the midpoint check-in. On day four of a seven-day charter, ask the chief stew or captain for a running APA balance. They will have it to the dollar; modern yacht accounting is done in real time on dedicated software (most commonly Voly, MaxCFM, or Dockwa Marina). If you are at 75 percent of APA spent on day four, you will overspend, and you want to know that on day four not day seven.
The fifth is reconciliation. Within 30 days of the end of the charter the broker delivers a reconciliation file. Every line item is dated, vendor-stamped, and matched to a receipt. Refund or top-up wire follows.
What to challenge in the reconciliation
Most reconciliations are clean. The captain has no incentive to overspend the float; if anything, captains tend to under-spend slightly to leave the next charter client with a refund. The problems we see, in order of frequency:
Dock fees billed at "guest extra rate" rather than the standard yacht rate. Some marinas in Sardinia and the Côte d'Azur charge a premium when they identify a charter as a guest-driven port call. The captain should be negotiating the standard rate. Ask.
Tender fuel double-counted as both main fuel and tender fuel. Tenders should be a separate line.
Wine and spirits ordered above the preference sheet ceiling. If you wrote "house rosé, no Champagne above 80 dollars," and the receipt shows two bottles of Krug Grande Cuvée at 320 dollars, that is a chargeback conversation.
Crew overtime billed for routine evening service. The standard crew watch is 12 hours. If the captain ran late-night tenders to shore for guests three nights in a row, overtime is fair. If the bar service ran until 1am at anchor with no special request, overtime is not.
Communications spend disproportionate to actual guest use. Starlink data on most charter yachts is now flat-rate, around 250 to 400 dollars per week. If you see a comms line at 3,500 dollars, ask what was on it.
Provisioning storage and last-mile delivery fees. Mediterranean provisioning often runs through a single supplier (Pier Luigi, Yachtneeds, MB92) and includes a delivery surcharge. Reasonable. What is not reasonable is a 12 percent "yacht handling fee" added by the captain on top of the supplier's invoice. There is no such fee. If you see one, it is the captain rounding up. Strike it.
When the captain spends APA on something you did not ask for
The captain has discretion under MYBA to spend APA on items "reasonably necessary for the operation of the yacht and the comfort and enjoyment of the guests." That phrase has been litigated. The defensible reading is: anything within the parameters of the preference sheet, plus emergencies (a generator part flown in, a weather diversion to a more expensive marina, a medical evacuation), plus standard provisioning the guests would expect. The indefensible reading is: anything the captain thinks the guests "would have wanted." If the bill shows a 3,000 dollar fireworks display you did not request, the captain has exceeded discretion. We have seen this exact item, on a 65m yacht, in the Bahamas, in 2024. The client took it back through the broker. The charge was reversed.
APA on a sailing yacht versus a motor yacht
The numbers shift. On a 40m sailing yacht with a smaller fuel envelope, APA typically sits at 20 to 25 percent. Provisioning becomes the dominant line. The wine list, by tradition, runs lighter. Dock fees are similar to a motor yacht of the same length. Crew is smaller, which reduces overtime exposure.
If you are between a 45m motor yacht and a 45m sailing yacht at similar weekly rates, the all-in number on the sail boat is meaningfully lower once APA reconciles. We name our preferred Mediterranean sailing yachts on the best charter yachts Mediterranean 2026 guide.
Where the day-charter market sits on APA
Day charters at 1,500 to 40,000 dollars per day do not use APA. Fuel is bundled into the day rate on operator boats. Provisioning is typically a separate per-head charge if catering is offered. We have a separate guide on the day charter cost structure at the hub.
FAQ
What does APA stand for on a yacht charter? APA stands for Advance Provisioning Allowance. It is a deposit, typically 25 to 35 percent of the base charter fee, held by the broker and spent by the captain on fuel, food, drinks, dock fees, and crew expenses during the charter.
Is APA refundable? Any unspent APA is refunded to the charter client within 30 days of the end of the charter. If spend exceeds APA, the client is invoiced the difference, usually before disembarkation.
Why is APA so high on yacht charters? Because fuel alone can run 8,000 to 25,000 dollars per day on a 50m motor yacht, and the captain has no way of knowing the exact itinerary, weather, or guest preferences in advance. The 25 to 35 percent buffer covers the worst case.
Can I negotiate the APA percentage? The percentage is set by the captain based on the yacht's fuel burn and the itinerary. A short-range, at-anchor trip can sometimes be agreed at 25 percent. Below that, you will get pushback.
What happens if I overspend the APA? If spending approaches the original APA limit before the end of the charter, the captain will ask the lead guest for a top-up wire. The charter cannot continue past the limit without funds in escrow.
Does the broker take commission on APA? No. The broker's commission, typically 15 percent, is paid out of the base charter fee. APA is a pass-through cost. A broker charging commission on APA is breaching standard MYBA terms.