Niederfinow Boat Lift
Coordinates: 52°50′56″N 13°56′29″E / 52.84889°N 13.94139°E
The Niederfinow Boat Lift is the oldest working boat lift in Germany. It lies on the Oder-Havel Canal near Niederfinow in Brandenburg. The lift overcomes a difference in elevation of 36 metres.
On 17 June 1914 the large navigation between Berlin and Stettin was opened. Near Niederfinow the difference in elevation was overcome using a staircase lock with four chambers. One can still visit the remains of these locks today (seen in the foreground of the accompanying aerial photograph).
The capacity of the staircase locks was quickly exceeded, therefore, between 1927 and 1934 the boat lift was built and inaugurated on 21 March 1934. The lift is 60 m high, the length 94 m, taking five minutes for the trough to move through the 36m elevation difference. The following enterprises were involved:
Steel structure
Electrical system
Foundations and steel structure of the aqueduct
By 26 January 1939 100,000 boats had already passed through the lift. In the inaugural year there was 2,832,000 tonnes of traffic.
The lift was the subject of a general overhaul in 1980 and the lifting cables were renewed in 1984/85.
Today the boat lift is too short some barge trains which must be separated to pass the lift. The lift is running near to its capacity with about 11,000 boats passing through each year, so in 1997 the decision was made to build a new, bigger lift.
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