Entrance to former Port of Geestemünde
A special basin for merchant shipping was constructed from 1856 to 1863 in Geestemünde, which had been founded by the then Kingdom of Hanover in 1845. A provisional jetty along the River Geeste existed in what was to become Geestemünde as early as 1824. On July 21st 1863, a new basin (Handelshafen) was inaugurated. 550 metres long and 100 metres wide, it was planned as a competing establishment to the ports of neighbouring Bremerhaven. Before that, the Geeste bank had served only as provisional port installation and it had many shortcomings.
The new Geestemünde Dock was equipped with a lock and independent of tidal conditions. It was modelled on the Bremerhaven lock, but also the Victoria-Dock in London.
Nowadays, the basin itself, the entrance, as well as parts of the lock (closed in 1930) are preserved. The latter had been replaced in its main function by a canal between the fishery port and Handelshafen basins in the year of closure and was thus converted into a repair dock for public vessels.