Hong Kong is a city built near the sea. It comprises mainland areas (the New Territories and the Kowloon Peninsula) as well as several larger islands (e.g. Hong Kong Island or Lantau) and smaller islands (e.g. Cheung Chau or Peng Chau).
Transport between these areas inevitably relies on waterborne vessels – ferries. Passengers, cars and other goods must be loaded onto and unloaded from these ferries. For this, piers are essential.
The outline of Hong Kong has changed over the years as a result of reclamation projects. Whenever a new project started, piers had to be removed and rebuilt in front of the new shoreline – often not forever, but had to be repeated in the next phase of land reclamation.
It might be of interest to see all piers on a map where you can trace the individual stages of land reclamation. Many of the locations of the (former) piers are now inland.
The map has been created using the tag “pier”. The map below is 'live': you can drag it around with your mouse, click the +/- buttons to zoom in and out, and click the Map/ Satellite/ Hybrid buttons to change the appearance of the map. If you notice a pier missing, please create a new place and add the tag “pier”.
Current Pier improvement…
Current Pier improvement program in progress since 2022. Mainly outlying islands.
https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr2025/english/panels/dev/papers/dev20251013cb…