Port Control
Port Control
Newhaven Harbour Port Control, callsign ‘Newhaven Radio’, is situated at the southern extremity of East Quay. They are contactable 24 hrs a day on VHF Channel 12 and on Tel: 01273 612926. They operate as a Local Port Service, providing factual information and have the Harbour Master’s authority to direct vessels as circumstances dictate.
The port operates an IALA Traffic Light system to regulate traffic. The lights are situated at the West Pier. Mariners should familiarise themselves with these signals.
The Inner Harbour
The width of the inner harbour varies between 69m and 149m. The Inner Harbour channel is also dredged to 6m.
On the west side is a large marina with 285 berths, managed by Marina Projects Ltd.
On the East side is Rampion Quay with 125m of pontoons, East Quay Commercial Terminal with 195m of berth frontage, dredged to 5m, and No.1 RoRo berth with a length of 187m, dredged to 6m.
North of No.1 RoRo the channel width reduces from between 50m to 90m.
No.2 RoRo berth is 125m in length and is no longer in use as a ferry berth. It is used at the moment as a lay-up berth and the depth is approx 4.5m after dredging.
North of here and up to the Swing Bridge, the depths are approx at chart datum (0m). On the West side are stages for the lifeboat and fishing fleet. On the East side is the old Railway Quay with underwater hazards of sheet piling and remnants of an old gridiron. Steel pile beacons are spaced at 30m intervals and mark the eastern boundary of the navigable channel.
The Swing Bridge channel is 17.3m between the timbers and leads to North Quay Channel, which is approx 38m wide and a depth on average of 1.5m below datum. Clearance under swing bridge is 8.10m – Gauge Reading.
On the east side of North Quay are four commercial aggregate and scrap berths (2 are in use and 2 are derelict) and on the West side is Denton island and the approaches to the Old Arm of the river, where leisure boat moorings are provided by various boatyards on drying berths. The Old Arm approaches to the moorings dries at 4m above chart datum.
North of No.4 berth and Denton Island is the swinging basin which allows vessels up to 90m to swing depending on the height of tide.
North of here is No.5 berth which can take 82m vessels, although it has not been used since 2005 and would require dredging to reinstate.
Maximum tidal range at Newhaven is -0.3m to 7.3m.
Spring tidal range is 0.5m to 6.6m.
Neap tidal range is 1.9m to 5.2m.
Speed Limits in the Harbour: South of West Pier = 8 knots
North of West Pier = 5 knots.
The Outer Harbour
The West Breakwater is 705m in length and provides good protection from the prevailing SW’ly winds.
The lighthouse at the end of the breakwater has characteristics Iso W 4s 17m 12M and is painted white with a red base. On the seaward side is sign written “Port of Newhaven, VHF Ch.12”. The lighthouse light characteristic was changed in January 2023 due to the previous longer light characteristic becoming obscured by background lighting.
The East Pier is 320m in length and is lattice constructed and so gives little protection from the wind but does prevent the invasion of silt into the channel.
The East Pier Light has characteristics Q Fl G 12m 5M and is a white pole with green horizontal bands.
Other information
The Commercial shipping anchorage area is 1 to 1.5 miles SW of the Breakwater Light.
Good shelter may be found in Seaford Bay during strong winds from the N and NE,.
An automatic recording tide gauge is situated at East Pier giving tidal readings related to Chart Datum which is 3.52 metres below Ordnance Datum Newlyn. This information relayed to Port Control at the southern end of East Quay by remote link where it is displayed and recorded. Data is also automatically collected by the National Oceanographic Centre.
Wind speed and direction information obtained from the Breakwater, the Narrows, the south end of ferry berth and at the Linkspan can be accessed by Port Control.
