Marina service
Constitution Dock
About
Constitution Dock at a glance
Constitution Dock in Hobart is managed by TasPorts and is offered for casual recreational berthing. The site accepts casual stays (with an online enquiry form) and provides bridge opening times and a phone contact for bookings and operations.
Service area: Hobart / River Derwent
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- TasPorts
- Region
- Hobart / River Derwent
- Water body
- Sullivans Cove
- Berth types
- casual berthing
Facilities and services
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- CCTV security
- 24-hour port control and lifting bridge operation
- mooring planks loaned by Port Control
- adjacent fish sales punts
- superyacht berthing by arrangement
Useful for sailors looking for
- Wet berthing and moorings
- Dry storage or hardstand
About Constitution Dock
Few Australian berths put a cruising yacht closer to the centre of a capital city than Constitution Dock. The walled basin sits at the head of Sullivans Cove, Hobart's original harbour, and reaching it means passing through a lifting bridge that Hobart Port Control opens on request, so the water inside stays flat in almost any weather and the masts of visiting yachts end up a short walk from the General Post Office. This is a working piece of waterfront rather than a purpose-built marina: stone and concrete quays, timber pilings, fish-selling punts moored along the south-eastern wall and the CBD rising directly behind. TasPorts manages casual berthing here as part of its port operations, and the clientele reflects that odd mix: round-the-world cruisers wintering over for months at a time, local charter and fishing boats and, each December, the entire Sydney Hobart race fleet, which has finished into this cove for roughly seven decades. Every second summer the Australian Wooden Boat Festival fills the dock and surrounding wharves with timber craft, and through the warm months the wharves host outdoor food festivals and markets. Liveaboards who have stayed for months describe it as the best location in Hobart: two minutes on foot to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and the Maritime Museum, ten to Salamanca Market, with pubs, bookshops and the nautical kitsch of the Drunken Admiral closer still. One quirk shapes every stay: all boats must vacate the dock in late December to make room for the race fleet, a fixture of the calendar that regulars plan their summers around.
Marina facilities
Berthing is alongside the quay walls, allocated on a first-come basis with no reservations taken. Arriving yachts are directed to tie up on the Kings Pier wharf to the right of the lifting bridge, where a TasPorts officer completes the paperwork; public liability insurance must be shown and credit card payment is preferred before the bridge is raised. Fees are charged weekly and scaled by vessel length. Cruising guides have published tiers of about $163 a week for boats up to 15 metres, $308 for 15 to 21 metres and $484 beyond 21 metres, though schedules change and current rates should be confirmed with TasPorts on 1300 366 742 or through Port Control on VHF 16. Water and electricity on the quaysides are included in the berthing fee. Rafting two or three deep is usual at busy times, fender boards are worth rigging against the timber piles, and Port Control will lend mooring planks to boats lying off the wall; regulars rate the ladders on the south-west wall as the most usable. An amenities block beside Kings Pier provides hot showers, toilets and laundry. Security is better than an open city wharf might suggest, with surveillance cameras covering the dock and Port Control manned around the clock, which also means the bridge can be worked at any hour. There is no fuel berth inside the dock itself; diesel is supplied in Hobart port by Bennetts Petroleum on weekdays, and the Kings Pier Marina next door offers a sewage pump-out. Chandlery, sail, rigging and engine repairs are all available within a few blocks in the city and the Battery Point marine precinct. Superyachts up to about 40 metres can be accommodated elsewhere on the TasPorts wharves by separate arrangement.
Local sailing knowledge
The approach could hardly be simpler. Sullivans Cove lies at the head of the Derwent estuary, well marked and lit, and Hobart Port Control should be called on VHF 16 before arrival to confirm space and arrange the bridge. Watch air draft under the lifting span; the masts of wide trimarans are particularly exposed as it opens. Inside, the choice of wall matters: the left-hand side past the bridge has no road alongside and is the quietest, while the south-eastern wall is occupied by barges selling fresh fish and fish and chips, handy for dinner but busy through the day. Skippers who leave for a day sail may return to find their spot taken and have to raft up elsewhere, since no space is held. Provisioning here is the best in Tasmania, with a city supermarket, Salamanca's Saturday market, bakeries, bottle shops and the waterfront fish punts all within minutes on foot, and permit parking can be arranged through TasPorts. For a change of scene, free anchorages off Battery Point and Nutgrove Beach are a short sail away, and the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania and Derwent Sailing Squadron at Sandy Bay both take visitors. The cruising grounds of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel begin a day's sail to the south. One hard rule shapes every itinerary: all vessels must be out of the dock by late December, when Kings Pier, the dock and Elizabeth Street Pier are handed over to the Sydney Hobart fleet until early January. Tasmanian biosecurity rules on fruit, vegetables, plants and fish are strictly enforced for boats crossing Bass Strait, and MAST's cruising guidance for visiting yachts is worth reading before arrival.