Hung Hom Ferry Pier (Southern pier of three piers off Whampoa Street) [1965-c.1971]

Submitted by tngan on Wed, 01/16/2013 - 12:41
Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists
Date completed
(Day is approximate.)
Date closed / demolished
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)

(Timeline added, based on the comments below:)

1965: The pier opens for business in June. It handles the Star Ferry's Hung Hom - Central ferry service.

1967: The Star Ferry suspended their Hung Hom - Central service, owing to the riots. No other ferry service used the pier after this time.

c.1971: Aerial photos of this area show the pier was demolished in around 1971.

(The Star Ferry resumed their Hung Hom - Central ferry service in 1975, but as this pier had been demolished they used another pier, slightly to the northeast of this one.)


The present day foot bridge stands more or less along the old sea front.  We could use the bridge as a reference for the three piers.

Photos that show this Place

Comments

The  hunghom-central service started in 1965. A newspaper report with picture indicates it was under construction that year By the way that Wiki entry is incorrect as the news report says the Star Ferry ran that service to Central in 1965. Of course Star Ferry used the left wing of their Central pier for TST and the right wing for Hunghom.

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opening central to hunghom pier 1965.png
opening central to hunghom pier 1965.png, by simtang

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An aereal photo showing the 3 piers at hunghom in 1965

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1965 air view hunghom piers.jpg
1965 air view hunghom piers.jpg, by simtang

From left to right: to Central, to Wanchai, to North point

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It is true that star ferry company suspended the service for the reason you stated. It did resume in 1975 when the new hunghom train terminal was opened in 1975 according to the following news report. By that time, the original pier had been demolished. They had to borrow the wanchai service pier from HYF which had to combine the Wanchai service and north point service at the righmost pier.

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1975-11-16 hunghom to central line.png
1975-11-16 hunghom to central line.png, by simtang

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What happened in 1979 was that HYF built a new pier for their Wanchai and north point lines further south of this 1965 Central pier (at the turntable) while abandoning the original pier (rightmost pier in above picture). Picture of that new pier can be found at gwulo.

https://gwulo.com/media/15937

In 1988, that part of coastline was again reclaimed, all the piers there were moved to Hunghom Bay center.

By the way you still can see the 1979 pier on the map just north of the railway station.

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Map of Hung Hom Bay about 1990
Map of Hung Hom Bay about 1990, by Klaus

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In 1991, again because of reclamation the piers were moved to Whampoa Garden.

These three piers are shown on Map 1970 at https://www.hkmaps.hk/mapviewer.html

I've used that to adjust the locations of the three markers:

https://gwulo.com/map-of-places#18/22.30508/114.18347/Map_by_ESRI-Marke…

I've also updated the status of the three Places to 'demolished'.

T, is it ok to delete the '(1979)' from the titles of these three Places?

David:

  It is indeed a long story. If you are referring to the following map, it shows the two piers at Whampoa Garden after 1991. The left one going to Central and right one going to north point. By checking Google map, the Central line apparently is no longer active. I can't find any 1970 map at your link.

The labels of the 3 markers are not quite correct. As mentioned above, in 1979, HYF built a new pier for their Wanchai and north point lines. Picture of that pier can be found on Gwulo (https://gwulo.com/atom/15937) (the label "Turntable-Tsim Sha Tsui East" is obviously wrong).

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Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier (1979) for Hung Hom / North Point service [????-????]
should be something like Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier for Hung Hom / North Point service [1963-1979] and Hung Hom / Wanchai service [1975-1979]
In 1963, after reclamation, the hunghom coast line was moved from Gilles road to Whampoa street. The north point pier was moved to this marker position. A new ferry pier for Wanchai line was built south of this marker. As mentioned above, in 1975 the wanchai service was moved here because the pier for wanchai service was rented to Star ferry for their Central line. In 1979, Both lines were moved to the new pier.
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Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier (1979) for Hung Hom / Wanchai service [????-????]
should be something like Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier for Hung Hom / Wanchai service [1963-1975] and for Hung Hom / Central service [1975-1988]
Pier at this marker was built in 1963. In 1975, this pier was rented to Star ferry for their Central service. In 1988, the Central service was moved to a temporary pier at Hunghom Bay Center.

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Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier (1979) for Hung Hom / Central service [????-????]
should be Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier for Hung Hom / Central service [1965-1967]
and Former Hung Hom Ferry Pier for Hung Hom / North point and Wanchai services [1979-1988]
The pier at this marker was quite short-lived and was demolished sometime after 1967. Another pier was built here in 1979 for Hung Hom / North point and Wanchai services which only lasted until 1988 when the sevices moved to Hunghom Bay Center.

 

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whampoa garden piers.png
whampoa garden piers.png, by simtang

Here are three pictures. First two pictures showing the pier used for the Central service from 1975-1988 (which originally belonged to HYF for their Wanchai line from 1963 to 1975). The ferry boat is silver star of star ferry. And the pier clearly had the words "star ferry to Central" displayed on its side wall. The third one show the 1979 pier built for both the northpoint and wanchai services. One can see part of this pier in the second picture behind the star ferry boat.

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ERROR: No media found for mid=41546

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hunghom pier to central 1975-1988.png
hunghom pier to central 1975-1988.png, by simtang

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hunghom to north point wanchai 1979.png
hunghom to north point wanchai 1979.png, by simtang

Hi There,

I believe it was inaugurated sometime last year.  It is operated by the same operator (Fortune Ferry Co. Ltd) running the North Point to Kwun Tong Ferry route.  But the uniform of the sailers all showed CKS (not CMS, sorry).

They charge HKD9.- per trip (same rate as the NP\KT route).  The current may make the ride a bit rough if the wind and tide conditions are met.

T

This picture shows Hunghom bay in early 1990s.  The temporary piers at hunghom bay center were there from 1988 on.

The 1979-1988 pier for north point and wanchai (lower part of picture) was no longer active.

hunghom bay early 1990s.png
hunghom bay early 1990s.png, by simtang

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All the piers disappeared after the reclamation of Hunghom bay was complete in 1995

hunghom bay 1995.png
hunghom bay 1995.png, by simtang

If we blow up the above 1965 picture, one can see the chinese characters "灣仔 " and "北角 " displayed on tops of the Wanchai pier (second from left) and North point pier (third from left). The Wanchai pier became Central pier in 1975.

1965 hunghom piers.png
1965 hunghom piers.png, by simtang

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The characters can be more easily read in these captures from a 1966 Cantonese movie. One can see the car parking lot just in front of the North point pier. But the bus terminal in front of the Wanchai pier was not shown.

1966 hunghom-north point pier.png
1966 hunghom-north point pier.png, by simtang

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1966 hunghom to wanchai pier.png
1966 hunghom to wanchai pier.png, by simtang

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The hunghom to Central pier in 1965 viewed from Chatham road

ERROR: No media found for mid=41583

 

simtang notes the pier opened in 1965 and Klaus found this description of the month:


Let's move to the hong kong annual report for 1965:

The Star Ferry Company Limited is authorized by ordinance to run passenger ferry services across the harbour between Victoria City on Hong Kong Island and Tsim Sha Tsui on the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula, and also between Victoria and Hung Hom on the eastern side of the peninsula. This latter service was introduced in June 1965.


I've set the completion date to be June 1965.

A more authoritative source is a Lingnan university master thesis in 2007
The history of Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Company limited 1923 to the 1970s.pdf page 128
which says:
The HYF established the ferry service between Kowloon City and Wan
Chai in 1956. In 1963, the HYF established the ferry services between North
Point and Kwun Tong; Hung Hom and Wan Chai; North Point and Hung Hom;
North Point and Kowloon City.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&…

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It clearly identified the two piers built in 1963 as ones serving Hunghom-North point and Hunghom-Wanchai.

 

Following are aerial photos of that place from 1969 to 1973 from the site https://www.hkmapservice.gov.hk

Apparently the central pier was gone in 1972. It seems the cross harbor tunnel was already open.So the picture was taken after Aug 2 1972.

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1969 hunghom air view.png
1969 hunghom air view.png, by simtang

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1972 air view  hunghom.png
1972 air view hunghom.png, by simtang

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1972 after aug 2 hunghom.png
1972 after aug 2 hunghom.png, by simtang

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1973-02-20 hunghom air view.png
1973-02-20 hunghom air view.png, by simtang

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1973-10-23 hunghom air view.png
1973-10-23 hunghom air view.png, by simtang

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This 1988 photo shows the Central pier (right 1975-1988) and Wanchai and north point pier (left 1979-1988) still active in 1988. They will shortly move to a temporary pier at Hunghom bay center as reclamation of that part proceeds.

1988 hunghom air view.png
1988 hunghom air view.png, by simtang

One can see the Central pier with the star ferry boat. So the picture was taken after 1975. The flyover is going from Gillles road up to the train station.  The old North point and Wanchai pier seems still active with a HYF boat. So it is possible it was before 1979 before the new North point Wanchai pier was built. Unfortunately it is out of the picture if it is there. There is no way to confirm the exact date.

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hunghom pier from air 1980.png
hunghom pier from air 1980.png, by simtang