Marina service
Colmslie Wharves
About
Colmslie Wharves at a glance
Purpose-built commercial marina under development on the Brisbane River at Colmslie, designed for marine tourism vessels up to 35m. Planned 51 berths with fuel connection, pump-out and crew amenities, co-located with Raptis Seafoods; development application lodged 2025 with Queensland Government grant support.
Service area: Brisbane River
- Marina type
- government/transport wharf-marina
- Operator
- Raptis Investments
- Region
- Brisbane River
- Water body
- Brisbane River
- Wet berths
- 51
- Maximum vessel
- 35 m
- Berth types
- permanent berthing
Facilities and services
- fuel
- pump-out
- power & water
- showers & laundry
- on-water fuelling connections
- sewage pump-out
- general waste facilities
- staff amenities (toilets/showers)
- car parking
- commercial berth leasing
About Colmslie Wharves
Colmslie Wharves is Brisbane's newest marina and its only purpose-built overnight berthing facility for commercial tourism vessels, taking shape on the Brisbane River at Colmslie Road, Morningside, about 9km from the CBD. The project comes from Raptis Investments, the property arm of the family seafood group whose processing wharves have occupied this industrial reach of the river for decades, and it extends directly from the existing Raptis Seafoods site. Its reason for existing is a market failure: since 2023, when commercial vessels were removed from Dockside Marina at Kangaroo Point and marine facilities at Eagle Street Pier closed, Brisbane's tour boat, cruise and charter operators have had no secure long-term berthing, many camping temporarily at Raptis's own Colmslie dock or at Rivergate, neither designed for the job. The Queensland Government backed the concept with a $4 million Growing Tourism Fund grant, Raptis lodged a development application in April 2025, and construction ramped up through 2025 with the first berths leased ahead of an expected opening in mid-2026. The promoters forecast more than $100 million a year in economic benefit, nearly 110,000 additional visitors annually and 337 ongoing jobs, and they position the marina as a 2032 Olympics-era catalyst for river and Moreton Bay tourism. Whatever the projections, the physical fact is simple: Brisbane's River City brand finally gets a working home for its commercial fleet. Industry figures, including the Australian Commercial Marine Group, have welcomed it, pointing out that Brisbane operators have watched whale-watch and bay-tour demand leak north to Hervey Bay for want of somewhere to base vessels.
Marina facilities
The marina is planned around 51 berths dedicated to commercial vessels, with berth sizes running from 12m up to 35m; later project reporting describes the layout accommodating vessels to 50m, so prospective operators should confirm final berth dimensions with Raptis. Every berth is intended as a permanent home base rather than casual visitor mooring, and leasing is handled directly by the developer, with early commitments taken from local cruise and charter businesses displaced from the inner city. On-water services are part of the design: fuel connection points allow refuelling at berth, sewage pump-out and general waste facilities are built in, and the project makes much of its environmental management, arguing that proper fuelling and wastewater infrastructure plus an end to unauthorised mooring will reduce pollution and riverbed damage on this reach. Crew and operational needs are covered by staff amenities including toilets and showers, on-site car parking for vessel crews and provisioning vehicles, and easy road access for restocking, with most provisioning expected on weekends and outside business hours to suit the industrial setting. There is no shipyard, travel lift or chandlery on site; for haul-out and refit work operators will use Brisbane River facilities such as Rivergate at Murarrie. The site is freehold industrial land with industry zoning that already supports marine uses, and its co-location with the Raptis seafood complex gives it a working-waterfront character rather than a resort-marina one. The developers also argue the facility will modernise the local commercial fleet, since operators have deferred vessel investment for years while berthing tenure was uncertain.
Local sailing knowledge
Colmslie sits on the south bank of the Brisbane River in the city's inner east, in a reach shared with tugs, barges and the steady commercial traffic of the Port of Brisbane downstream. Vessels berth in deep water alongside and enjoy straightforward navigation: the Gateway Bridges and the river mouth lie roughly a dozen kilometres downriver, putting Moreton Bay, the bay islands and their anchorages within easy day-trip range, while the city reaches, South Bank and the inner-city pick-up and drop-off pontoons are a short run upstream. The brown snake, as locals call the river, runs murky and tidal here, with a range of around two metres and a noticeable ebb after rain, and shipping movements rather than weather are the main traffic consideration. Shore-side, this is an industrial precinct, which operators regard as an advantage after years of friction with residents at Dockside: there are no apartments overlooking the berths, and the nearest recreation space is Colmslie Recreation Reserve just along the river. Crew change and provisioning logistics are simple, with the Port of Brisbane, airport and motorway network close by, and the Bulimba and Morningside dining strips a short drive for crew meals. For interstate operators eyeing Brisbane before the 2032 Games, Colmslie's selling point is certainty of tenure on a river that has not offered it to commercial vessels for years. Commercial operators already based in Brisbane, from river cruise boats to charter catamarans, are expected to be the first tenants, with interstate entrants forecast to follow once the berths commission.