Material availability: Years ago I sailed an international regatta in Thailand. The regatta hired a lawyer to help competitors to get boats and equipment through customs. There was a sliding fee, negotiated by the lawyer that wasn't too bad. However Thai sailors told me they struggled with customs a little more especially with spars and rigging. I don't know if this is still true, but you may want to investigate.
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My company worked with a customer in the Philippines to have his custom boat built. He was extremely frustrated with his ability to get essential marine parts through customs and he had to pay a lot of money. The struggle with customs also delayed the project for a year as I remember. I lived in the Philippines as a boy and can tell you customs people do not get paid? a living wage and must resort to demanding money from people and companies trying to get their goods. The amount paid is related to influence and amount you can afford.
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Mike Allen had a successful boatyard in the Philippines for years, though he is now retired. He had a Filipino family and through them had knowledge of the culture. I always admired his business plan that was well suited for the Philippines. He used his skilled and well educated workers to build all the timber portions of his multihulls. He installed minimum equipment, reducing products he had to bring through customs. After launch and delivery, he recommended his customers take the boat out of the country for final fit-out, often to Indonesia. In this way his customers avoided most of the Filipino customs problem.
