Littlehampton Harbour accommodates a variety of commercial vessels each year — from coastal traders and workboats to survey craft and specialist marine projects.
The Harbour Board’s priority is to ensure all ship movements are conducted safely, efficiently, and with minimal disruption to other harbour users.
Any vessel meeting certain criteria must take a authorised pilot when entering, leaving, or moving within the harbour limits.
The Pilot’s role is to advise the vessel’s Master to ensure safe navigation within the tidal and spatial limits of Littlehampton Harbour.
The Harbour workboat ERICA, acting as the pilot boat, precedes the inbound or outbound vessel and may issue instructions to other traffic to maintain safe clearance.
For detailed pilotage procedures, please visit our Pilotage page.
Recent and upcoming ship arrivals / departures are also posted on our Facebook page.
For realtime shipping information go to Marine Traffic or view live AIS map below:
During certain acts of pilotage, the harbour may be temporarily closed to all other vessel movements for safety reasons.
The Pilot will issue a “Sécurité” broadcast on VHF Channel 16, advising mariners to switch to the harbour working channel VHF Channel 71 for a traffic information broadcast.
Mariners already within the harbour must comply promptly with any instructions issued by the Pilot, the Harbour Master, or the pilot boat ERICA.
Once the pilotage movement is complete and the harbour declared open, normal operations may resume.
Important: Always maintain a listening watch on VHF Channel 71 when underway within the harbour.
Littlehampton is a tidal port — meaning that safe entry and departure are dependent on depth over the bar and prevailing sea conditions.
As such, ship arrivals and departures are carefully planned around suitable tides.
Larger ships will usually enter or depart at or near slack high water.
On neap tides, there may be insufficient clearance over the bar for deep-drafted vessels, and entry may not be possible.
Entry is at the Pilot’s discretion, taking into account the latest tide, weather, and sea-state conditions.
Typical operating limits for large vessels:
Maximum recommended wind speed: Force 5
Maximum wave height: 1.0 metre
Maximum draft: 4.0 metres on approximately 316 high tides per year (around 55% of all tides)
Occasional deeper-drafted vessels (up to 5.0 metres) may be accepted, but only on suitable spring tides.
The Littlehampton Harbour Board works closely with shipping agents, pilots, and local businesses to support safe and efficient trade while maintaining harmony with leisure and environmental interests.
We ask all Masters and agents to:
Provide 24 hours’ notice of intended arrival or departure.
Maintain open VHF communication with the Harbour Office and Pilot.
Follow all harbour directions and traffic management instructions.
Operate with consideration for other harbour users and environmental conditions.
For safety reasons, commercial shipping visits require the footbridge to be opened before they commit to enter the harbour or unmoor for departure.
During a large shipping move, the footbridge will be retracted from typically 15 mins before high water to 15 mins after high water but this remains subject to various factors which can lead to longer openings and/or delay to subsequent tides.
Our small team endeavour to post additional notice of openings here but please note that the bridge may occasionally be retracted with little or no notice for operational reasons. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
