Portsmouth

Portsmouth Harbour is the Dockyard Port of Portsmouth, under the King's Harbour Master, entered from the Solent past the Round Tower between Portsmouth Point and Fort Blockhouse. The entrance is a declared narrow channel with a strong cross-tide, and it closes to other traffic when warships move. Superyachts berth at Gunwharf Quays just inside the entrance, at Haslar and Royal Clarence on the Gosport side, and at the quays of Portsmouth International Port; Trafalgar Shipyard lies up Portchester Lake.

Every vessel using the main channel reports to the King's Harbour Master on VHF 11 and confirms its ETA at the Outer Spit buoy an hour ahead. From the east, a yacht reports at 50°40.0'N giving the distance from the Nab Tower, then asks to enter the main channel between Horse Sand Fort and No Man's Land Fort. From the west, it reports at Prince Consort buoy, then asks to enter the Bar channel from the Swashway, or the main channel abeam Mary Rose buoy.

The Swashway is a channel for shallow draught, led on 049°T. The Inner Swashway is closed to vessels over 20m, which keep to the approach channel between the entrance and No 4 Bar buoy. Ryde hovercraft and fast catamarans cross the Swashway at more than 24 knots.

The Small Boat Channel runs 50m wide down the western side of the entrance from Ballast pile to No 4 Bar buoy. Vessels under 20m must use it, under engine; a vessel over 20m may use it only with the King's Harbour Master's express permission. It stays open when large ships close the main channel, but shuts during aircraft carrier transits. The cross-tide in the entrance runs at up to four knots at springs.

A vessel over 20m enters and leaves only under the King's Harbour Master's direction, asks permission before leaving a berth or weighing anchor, and asks again before passing the Saddle buoy inbound. It keeps a continuous watch on VHF 11, with VHF 13 used for naval movements, and does not move in visibility under a quarter of a mile without permission. To reach Gunwharf Quays a yacht crosses the harbour only north of Ballast pile and with permission, with its berth booked first.

Vessels keep 50m off warships alongside or at anchor and 100m off submarines. An exclusion zone of up to 250m can be set around a warship underway, which shows two diamonds by day and two red flashing lights at night, and all small-craft traffic in the entrance stops while it passes. A ship over 135m in the Precautionary Area carries a Moving Prohibited Zone, 500m ahead and 50m either side. The speed limit is 10 knots through the water in the harbour and within half a mile of the low water line elsewhere in the Dockyard Port.

Pilotage is compulsory at 48m and over, and at 20m and over with more than 12 passengers; a deployed bowsprit counts in a sailing yacht's length. Portsmouth City Council is the competent harbour authority, and the pilot boat monitors VHF 09. A vessel of 150m or less boards near the St Helens buoy, and from the western Solent about three quarters of a mile north west of North Sturbridge.

The pilot is booked at least 24 hours ahead with length, beam, draught, last port and berth. The ETA follows eight hours before arrival and is confirmed on VHF 11 two hours before; no pilot is sent without that confirmation. Outbound and shifting movements need eight hours' notice and the same two-hour confirmation.

For a vessel up to 70m the 2026 charge is GBP 568, GBP 710 from the Nab and GBP 140 berth to berth, with GBP 285 added north of No 96 pile. A transit west of the line from Gilkicker to Ryde Pier that stays south of Gilkicker, Horse Sand Fort and the Cambrian Wreck is exempt.

There is no fuel or bunkering at Gunwharf Quays. The Gosport fuel pontoon has self-service diesel and unleaded, on VHF 80 or 023 9252 4811, and Port Solent a serviced fuel pontoon. A larger yacht bunkers at Portico's berth on Albert Johnson Quay, supplied by Certas Energy.

Gunwharf Quays takes general waste by the bin at GBP 55 a bin, and catering waste only by prior request; it cannot take hazardous waste. Haslar accepts hazardous waste, and ship waste at Portsmouth International Port needs 48 hours' notice.

Southampton Airport is about half an hour by road. Solent Airport Daedalus at Lee-on-the-Solent is open seven days and offers helicopter transfers to London. Portsmouth Harbour station has direct trains to London Waterloo in about an hour and fifty minutes, and the Historic Dockyard, with HMS Victory, the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior, is five minutes' walk away. Queen Alexandra Hospital is at Cosham.

Trafalgar Shipyard in Portchester Lake lifts to 60m and 877 tonnes, and Endeavour Quay at Gosport to 40m and 180 tonnes, with 130m of deep-water pontoons.