The floating dock - called the "Landungsbrücken" (landing stages) – is 700 metres long. Harbour tours and the HADAG steamers to Finkenwerder, Oevelgönne and Blankenese leave from this water "station". Impressive luxury cruisers also dock here from time to time.
Standing here - the water on one side, and on the other colourful souvenir shops with waterfront memories and quaint fish restaurants with fresh cutter plaice or North Sea shrimps - it is easy to forget that you are walking on a floating platform. The first pontoons were built in 1839 and served as docks for steam ships because the coal they needed for their engines could be stored here. Similarly, the fire in the boilers, as a potential hazard, was kept far away from the actual harbour. From 1907 to 1909, the facility was greatly expanded - and heavily damaged in the Second World War. Today's pier area has existed since its reconstruction from 1953 to 1955, and a car once drove at extremely high speed across the bridges for a movie thriller. The water tower on the east side of the water station shows the time and the water level and also rings the ship's bell every half hour.
