In the southernmost port of Kismayo, where I served as a relief worker in the late 1990s, foreign fishing boats captured by angry local fisherman lie rusting against the pier, serving now as a place for young militiamen to relax in the sun during their stoned-out Qat break.
Dating from the 1880's, the pier served for many years as headquarters for the harbor police, who ferried visiting dignitaries to shore after they had arrived by ocean liner.
The pier once served as the causeway across the bay but was replaced in the 1960s and converted into a fishing pier of 3200 feet, billed as the longest in the world.
Vessels can be moored to the pier, which serves as a transfer platform for cargo and passengers.
At first, museum officials said they would keep the Enterprise on the city-owned pier that serves as the entryway to the museum.
But she suggested that the shuttle would be visible from outside the building and could "get more exposure on the highway" than on the pier that serves as the entryway to the floating museum.
London's river transport network has also been enhanced by the installation of pay-as-you-go Oyster readers on all piers served by the Clippers, while the new Plantation Wharf Pier will open next month on the South Bank of the Thames between Battersea and Wandsworth bridges.
Small, multicoloured boat houses and fish shacks sit out over the water on stilts, long piers and docks jutting out into the water, serving as a sad reminder of the region's once-rich fishing heritage.
She was also active in Huntington Beach, serving as a grand marshal in the Fourth of July Parade and arranging for American flags to hang from the pier during Veterans Day weekend.
Piers (solid blocks of masonry supporting either an arch or a lintel) were often made of stone, but those serving as primary support for large vaults were usually made of concrete.
Piers serve the same purpose as piles but are not installed by hammers and, if based on a stable substrate, will support a greater load than a pile.
