Wood Harbour Duisburg

The timber harbor in Duisburg is a ship turning area in the inner harbor between the marina and Portsmouth Dam. It was created from 1889 to 1893 by expanding the harbor basin and was originally used as a collection point for timber floating.
Even before the rise of the railways, coal traders earned some extra income by transporting wood on the ships returning empty. After the decline in coal transport, the utilization of the harbor also decreased, so the "Rhein-Ruhr Canal Stock Company" began looking for other sources of income for the harbor starting in 1869. Nearby were the sawmills of three companies: August Nieten, Matthias Rosendahl, and H. H. Elshorst. In 1870, two more large timber companies, Albert Maasen and Brügmann & Son, settled with modern steam sawmills. Additionally, a flood-safe area was created at the height of the spring wall using the excavation from the harbor basin.

Wikipedia