Pier
This article is about the building. For the civil society alliance, see Seebrücke (alliance). See also: Engelseebrücke, Seebruck and Seegartenbrücke respectively.
A pier or landing stage is a structure built on wooden, steel or concrete piles from the shore into the sea ("the sea"), into an inland lake or into a large river. Unlike a pier or breakwater, a pier is not an embanked structure.
A port is not available everywhere. Since waters often run out shallowly towards the shore, ships with a greater draught can no longer reach it. They therefore anchor correspondingly far from the shore and are loaded and unloaded with the help of shuttle boats. This cumbersome procedure can be avoided by building a pier.
Sea bridges sometimes extend several hundred metres out to sea. They are not bridges in the true sense of the word, as they end in the water, but they bridge the distance from land to the point where ships can moor. In the past, they were built of wood or iron, but today they are mostly made of steel or reinforced concrete.
In addition to their function as landing stages, which has now mostly receded into the background, they now serve as promenades for guests on the North Sea and Baltic Sea, as locations for restaurants, snack bars and also hotels. In particular, the large piers in the seaside resorts of England and the Netherlands are called piers in the local language. They serve as pleasure piers for the guests. Their origin is based on the fact that one wanted to offer guests who wanted to see the sea at a flat coast, this possibility at any time (even at low tide).
Heringsdorf on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom is home to Germany's longest pier, at 508 metres.
Bird's eye view of the jetty in Swakopmund, Namibia (2017)
The pier in Zingst
Bottom view of the pier in Scheveningen
See also
- jetty (equivalent to a small pier)
- List of piers
- List of piers in Germany
- List of piers in the United Kingdom
- Kai
