Harbour Master's Directions & Port Information Guide

The Harbour Master's Directions for the port of Melbourne and Port Information Guide for the port waters of the port of Melbourne contain information and provide advice and guidance to ship's masters, shipping agents and owners to facilitate the safe and efficient operation of shipping within the port waters of the port of Melbourne.

Also on this page, Legislative Charts showing the port waters of the port of Melbourne and a link to information for the port of Geelong.

Harbour Master's Directions

This document informs about:

the role of the port authority
the functions of the Harbour Master
the regulations and practices that govern vessel operations
Vessel Traffic Services operation
anchorages, channels and berths, port services and tides
procedures and requirements for aquatic event advices.

Current edition

View or download the Harbour Master's Directions Edition 13.1, effective from 29 September 2023 (PDF)

Edition 13.1 supersedes all previous versions. All details are correct at the time of publication but may be subject to variation.

View or download table of major changes in Edition 13.1 (PDF)

Port Information Guide

This document, which should be read in conjunction with Harbour Master's Directions, conforms to the format recommended by the International Harbour Masters' Association and provides general information and guidance for the masters of sea-going vessels, ships' agents and other interested parties on all aspects of port operations and the navigation of commercial vessels in port waters of the port of Melbourne.

The 5th Edition is effective from 2 March 2022 and supersedes all previous versions. All details are correct at the time of publication but may be subject to variation.

View or download the Port Information Guide 5th Edition from the links below:

Port Information Guide 5th Edition - Full version (PDF, 5.9 Mb) – a large document, containing all the diagrams and chartlets.
Port Information Guide 5th Edition - Easy download version (PDF, 1.1 Mb) – a smaller document for easy download, without the diagrams and chartlets. These are available for separate download from the table below.

Page	Diagrams and chartlets from the 4th Edition of the Port Information Guide for the port of Melbourne (Documents are all PDFs)
24	Diagram 3(a) West Gate Bridge
25	Diagram 3(b) Bolte Bridge
30	Diagram 3(f) Swanson Dock berths and chainage marks
31	Diagram 3(g) Station Pier general arrangement plan
32	Diagram 3(h) Gellibrand Pier recommended mooring arrangements for large tankers
32	Diagram 3(i) Gellibrand Pier recommended mooring arrangements for Aframax tankers
33	Diagram 3(j) Gellibrand Pier recommended mooring arrangements for Panamax tankers
33	Diagram 3(k) Gellibrand Pier recommended mooring arrangements for Medium Range tankers
38	Chartlet 3(m) Distance table
39	Chartlet 3(n) Webb swing basin
40	Chartlet 3(o) Main shipping channels at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay
57	Chartlet 5(a) VTS sectors
58	Chartlet 5(b) VTS reporting points, Lonsdale sector
59	Chartlet 5(c) VTS reporting points, approaches to Melbourne

Port waters of the port of Melbourne

As per The Order in Council made under section 5(2) of the Port Management Act 1995 (Vic) on 18 October 2012 (Victoria Government Gazette G 42 18 October 2012, page 2359) the declared port waters of the port of Melbourne are defined in the following Legislative Charts:

LEGL./12-105 - Port waters of the port of Melbourne (PDF 2.8 Mb)
LEGL./12-106 - Port waters of the port of Melbourne (Port Melbourne) (PDF 3.5 Mb)
LEGL./12-107 - Port waters of the port of Melbourne (Port Phillip - South) (PDF 2.6 Mb)

Port of Geelong information

For information about the Port of Geelong, please visit our other website.

For more information contact:

Marine & Navigation Services
Tel: +61 3 9644 9758
Email: navservices@vicports.vic.gov.au