Pripyat Debarkader D-241

This is debarkader D-241, a floating pier that used to be stationed at the Marina River Station in Pripyat. The station was built in 1973 to transport people via the Pripyat River, that flows into the Dnieper River. After the Chernobyl Disaster, it floated away from the station and stranded here on this landing stage close to the Pripyat Sanatorium. The Marina River Station is situated 100 meters to the west.

In the late 1970s, water transport was very popular in the USSR. The transportation of goods and passengers over water became more affordable. So from Kyiv you could sail to Pripyat, the city of Chernobyl and to neighboring Belarus. The River Station was located on the Yanovsky Zaton next to Pripyat Cafe. Yanovsky Zaton is an artificial lake specially created for the needs of Pripyat. Here departed boats named ‘Rocket’, ‘Comet’ and ‘Meteor’. The streamlined Soviet passenger boats used a hydrofoil technology that lifted the boat’s hull out of the water, decreasing drag and allowing it to travel at incredible speeds of up to 150 km/hr.

The debarkader had several decks and was used for entering the passenger ships. In the Soviet Union, these floating piers, or jetties, were produced in large numbers. The structure of the jetties was made of wood and concrete. It maintains a fixed height to the ship, independent of river or lake elevation. It used to be joined to the shore with a gangway.

Today the debarkader is not used, it slowly rusts and is sinking. Also, the old River Station and Pripyat Cafe are in a bad state.