Bremerhaven’s leaning pier tower: “Disaster with announcement”

Landmark, kissing place, tourist attraction: the mole tower in Bremerhaven has been crooked for almost a week because part of the north mole sagged. The red dome is now saved. Could the drama have been prevented?

There it is, tilted by eight degrees, almost twice as crooked as the Tower of Pisa – and also almost as famous. Tourists and locals crowd around the Bremerhaven pier tower. They are waiting for something to happen: that Bremerhaven’s landmark continues to tip over or that its bright red dome can finally be recovered. Since the night of August 18th, when the river jutted far into the mouth of the Weser Mole suddenly sagged at its tipthe lighthouse is leaning and in danger.

Already several historical buildings broken

“I’m very sad and fighting back tears. It’s a landmark and an old kissing place from my youth. I associate a lot of memories with it,” says Meike Raab, who came to the pier to look at the misery. She is not alone in her feelings. The whole city is appalled, although or precisely because the citizens have plenty of experience with iconic buildings falling into disrepair. In 2019, the famous traditional three-master “Seute Deern” caught fire and sank in the museum harbor – the ship had to be scrapped. In 2021, a historic swing bridge in the port area collapsed – corrosion, total loss. And now the picturesque pier tower from 1914.

Mayor sees a “disaster with announcement”

Many of the onlookers at the pier are certain that the drama could have been prevented. Even Lord Mayor Melf Grant (SPD) would agree: “If you wanted to be cynical, you could say it was a disaster with an announcement,” said Grantz – to also assure that he and the city have been in other places for years pointed out the problem. In doing so, he hit the core of the problem: It is often difficult to unravel who is formally responsible or politically responsible for Bremerhaven’s doomed ladies. To date, none of the many participants in the research museum, in the city, state or federal government has taken responsibility for the dramatic sinking of the “Seute Deern”.

Difficult search for culprits

The always difficult search for culprits may also be related to Bremerhaven’s unique special position in Germany. It is the smaller city in the only two-city state. On the one hand, it is endowed with communal freedoms that no one else in the republic enjoys. On the other hand, she is not the ruler of significant areas of the city, because almost all port areas belong to the city or the state of Bremen. This in turn allows the ports to be operated by his national company Bremenports. However, the federal government is again responsible for waterways such as the Weser. So who is responsible for the drama surrounding the mole tower?

Ailing Mole had been closed since 2015

The day after the slump, two people who could be blamed for the accident stood in front of the press with petrified expressions: Robert Howe, head of Bremenports, and Claudia Schilling (SPD), Bremen’s port senator. She said it was “not important for her to look at the responsibilities at first,” but admitted, “We might have had to dismantle the tower beforehand.”

Howe explained that Bremenports did not know what was going on with the mole: “It was not on the agenda at all” – obviously a misjudgment. The pier had been dilapidated for a long time and had been closed to visitors since 2015. And the bond? He doesn’t own the collapsed pier, just the tower itself. And it’s still standing, albeit tilted by eight degrees. And that, according to Lord Mayor Grantz, “damages the city of Bremerhaven,” and he probably means the worldwide press reports about the “leaning tower.”

There are also good things to tell about the 117,000-inhabitant city at the mouth of the Weser. After decades of crisis caused by the death of shipyards and the demise of deep-sea fishing, Bremerhaven increasingly became the location of renowned scientific institutes. With the “Havenwelten” large parts of the city center were completely redesigned and geared towards tourism and adventure museums with great success. A targeted funding policy in problem districts is now bearing fruit, and a touch of gentrification is pervading some of the magnificent Wilhelminian style streets.

First message of success: the dome is saved

But such positive reports do not compete with a visually powerful near sinking of a lighthouse, the salvage of which has been taking place under real-time conditions for more than a week. Bloggers and TV broadcasters, leisure campers on the opposite pier and onlookers with cell phones in constant use are there. The laborious rescue of the five-tonne metal dome was a spectacle that lasted for days and not only the people of Bremerhaven feared live.

On Friday afternoon there was finally a success message. the Dome floated over from the leaning tower onto a safe pontoon ship: saved. What will happen to the stone rest is still open. The only thing that is certain is that the crumbling mole, which guides ships safely to Bremerhaven’s fishing port, is expected to be repaired by 2025. And then, promises port boss Robert Howe, the newly built pier tower should also be ready: “One to one, as it stands there now. Then of course straight.”