A shipping canal dug in 1874-1880 across Uznam between the Świna and the Szczecin Lagoon, part of the Świnoujście-Szczecin shipping channel.
The Piast Canal is part of the Świnoujście-Szczecin shipping channel. It runs through the southern part of Świnoujście, between the Świna and the Szczecin Lagoon. Its banks are steep and almost without vegetation, which sets them apart from the banks of the Świna. The canal cut the island of Karsibór off from the rest of Uznam (Usedom).
The canal was dug in the south-eastern part of Uznam in 1874-1880 to improve shipping between Szczecin and the Baltic. Once it was built, the former peninsula of Uznam became a separate island, Karsibór. Until 1945 the German name Kaiserfahrt was used, literally the Emperor's Passage. The name Piast Canal was fixed officially in 1949.
The breakwaters of the channel gate lie on the southern side of Karsibór Island, on both sides of the canal: the eastern one is 430 m long and the western one 550 m. They replaced old, damaged breakwaters from the early 20th century. In 2015 the Maritime Office in Szczecin completed a full modernisation of the canal's bank reinforcements.
The canal can be seen from the side of Karsibór Island, and the Karsiborskie Paprocie nature reserve lies nearby, about 0.8 km away. Access to the canal is best checked with the city office or on the spot.
About 1.3 km from the canal stands the viewing tower in the Karsibór Forestry District. Also in the surroundings are the Tunnel under the Świna and the "Vineta" coastal artillery battery complex, about 7-8 km away.
In October 2020 an unexploded bomb was found in the canal: a Tallboy dropped in 1945 during a British air raid on the cruiser "Lützow". About 750 nearby residents were evacuated, and the bomb exploded during a remote-controlled disposal attempt, with no casualties.
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