In this photograph the water in the southern part of the wet dock is dark while water in the river Orwell is a lighter greeny brown.

The dock was built in the 18th century. It was made by digging a new channel for the tidal river which is now called New Cut. At the time it was built it was the largest dock of its type in Europe. Ships entered through a lock from the river Orwell (called Gipping when it becomes non tidal further upstream). The lock can be seen at the far left of the dock. This is not the original as it was rebuilt when the increase in the size of ships meant that they could not turn round in the river to get into the old lock basin.

Today the cargo ships are so large that most of them can not use the dock at all. They have to use the open quayside further down stream on the west bank or at Felixstowe. Turning the ship round is still a major limitation on the size of ships that can use the Port of Ipswich.

Today the dock is becoming increasingly used for leisure boating. Timber is still off loaded from Scandinavia along with fertiliser which is imported for use on the regions arable farms.