Pilotage & Plans

South Port offers pilotage guidelines for safe vessel entry and exit, based on size, weight, and draft.

To ensure the safety of vessels and personnel South Port has a number of guidelines for entry and exit of the port, which vary according to the vessel length, weight, and draft. Pilotage is compulsory for all vessels over 500 gross registered tonnes and/or 40m length overall.

Pilotage areas and limits

Port entry conditions & navigation limitations

The port offers a deep water channel entry and berthage; please take into consideration the following limitations:

Application & Notification

Arriving vessels, or their agent, should advise the Port Company 48 hours prior to arrival of ETA, arrival draft, and any dangerous cargo on board, whether for discharge at this port or not.

Vessels arriving at a weekend or public holiday must ensure that the arrival information reaches the Port Company before 1530 hours on the last working day prior to the weekend or holiday.

Pilotage services

Stewart Island: Pilots are available for the Stewart Island pilotage district.

Cruise Ships (Fiordland): A cruise ship piloting service for Fiordland is provided by South Port. Please contact the Marine Administrator for further details.

Vessel size & tide conditions

Vessels up to 100m: Arrival and departure can be made at any stage of the tide, dependent upon draft, weather, and ship-handling capabilities.

Guidelines for shipping movements

Vessels over 100m:

Pilot times for entry and exit are as follows:

Maximum draft for low and high tides is as follows:

Vessels over 200m:

Large vessels will be evaluated by the Duty Pilot at the time. Pilot times and draft restrictions are the same as for 180m-200m vessels.

Shifting within the port:

The majority of vessels can be moved at any stage of the tide, dependent upon weather conditions. Maximum draft at LW is 9.0m; during the LW-HW and HW-LW periods, the maximum draft is adjusted accordingly to the height of the tide.

  • Entering HW: 30 minutes before slack
  • Entering LW: 45 minutes before slack
  • Leaving HW: 60 minutes before slack
  • Leaving LW: 30 minutes before slack
  • LW: 9.0m
  • HW: 10.3m

Tankers

Tankers will be restricted to slack water shifts only to/from Tiwai Wharf.

Weather conditions

South Port pilots have stipulated guidelines for maximum wind strengths for various types of vessels, both day and night.

Passage Plans

You can view and download passage plans and waypoints in and out for all berths below.