Strépy-Thieu boat lift (Belgium, Wallonia)
The Falkirk Wheel (Scotland)
Peterborough Lift Lock (Canada)

A boat lift, ship lift, or lift lock is a machine for transporting boats between water at two different elevations, and is an alternative to the canal lock.

It may be vertically moving, like the Anderton boat lift in England, rotational, like the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland, or operate on an inclined plane, like the Ronquières inclined plane in Belgium.

History

A precursor to the canal boat lift, able to move full-sized canal boats, was the tub boat lift used in mining, able to raise and lower the 2.5 ton tub boats then in use. An experimental system was in use on the Churprinz mining canal in Halsbrücke near Dresden. It lifted boats 7 m (23 ft) using a moveable hoist rather than caissons. The lift operated between 1789 and 1868, and for a period of time after its opening engineer James Green reporting that five had been built between 1796 and 1830. He credited the invention to Dr James Anderson of Edinburgh.

The idea of a boat lift for canals can be traced back to a design based on balanced water-filled caissons in Erasmus Darwin's Commonplace Book (pp. 58–59) dated 1777–1778

In 1796 an experimental balance lock was designed by James Fussell and constructed at Mells on the Dorset and Somerset Canal, though this project was never completed. A similar design was used for lifts on the tub boat section of the Grand Western Canal entered into operation in 1835 becoming the first non-experimental boat lifts in Britain and pre-dating the Anderton Boat Lift by 40 years.

In 1904 the Peterborough Lift Lock designed by Richard Birdsall Rogers opened in Canada. This 19.8-metre (65 ft) high lift system is operated by gravity alone, with the upper bay of the two bay system loaded with an additional 30 cm (12 in) of water as to give it greater weight.

Before the construction of the Three Gorges Dam Ship Lift, the highest boat lift, with a 73.15-metre (240.0 ft) height difference and European Class IV (1350 tonne) capacity, was the Strépy-Thieu boat lift in Belgium opened in 2002.

The ship lift at the Three Gorges Dam, completed in January 2016, is 113 m (371 ft) high and able to lift vessels of up to 3,000 tons displacement.

The boat lift at Longtan is reported to be even higher, with a maximum vertical lift of 179 m (587 ft) at the second level when completed.

Selected lift locks

Notable lift locks – ordered by size
NameLocationOpenedTypeDisplacementDimensionsVertical liftCycle timeNotes
Goupitan ship-lifting system (second lift)Guizhou, China2021Vertical caisson500 tons280 by 35 by 5 metres 919 by 115 by 16 feet127 metres 417 feetTallest boat lift in the world.
Goupitan ship-lifting system (first lift)Guizhou, China2021Vertical caisson500 tons72–79 metres 236–259 feet
Three Gorges Dam ship liftYichang, Hubei, China2016Vertical caisson3000 tons280 by 35 by 5 metres 919 by 115 by 16 feet113 metres 371 feet30–40 minutes
Krasnoyarsk Dam ship liftDivnogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia1982Inclined plane1500 tons90 m × 18 m × 2.2 m 295 ft × 59 ft × 7 ft104 m 341 ft90 minutes
Ronquières inclined plane liftBraine-le-Comte, Hainaut, Belgium1968Inclined plane1350 tons91 m × 12 m × 3.7 m 299 ft × 39 ft × 12 ft67.73 m 222 ft22 minutes
Strépy-Thieu boat liftLe Rœulx, Hainaut, Belgium2002Vertical caisson1350 tons112 m × 12 m × 3.35 m 367 ft × 39 ft × 11 ft73.15 m 240 ft7 minutesTallest boat lift in Europe.
Scharnebeck twin ship liftLüneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany1974Vertical caisson1350 tons105.4 m × 15.8 m × 3.4 m 346 ft × 52 ft × 11 ft38 m 125 ft3 minutes
Niederfinow boat liftBrandenburg, Germany1934Vertical caisson85 m × 12 m × 2.5 m 279 ft × 39 ft × 8 ft36 m 118 ft20 minutes
Niederfinow north boat liftBrandenburg, Germany2022Vertical caisson2100 tonnes115 m × 12.5 m × 4.0 m 377 ft × 41 ft × 13 ft36 m 118 ft
Peterborough lift lockOntario, Canada1904Vertical caisson1300 tons42.7 m × 10.1 m × 2.1 m 140 ft × 33 ft × 7 ft19.8 m 65 ft10 minutes
Kirkfield Lift LockOntario, Canada1907Vertical caisson1300 tons42.7 m × 10.1 m × 2.1 m 140 ft × 33 ft × 7 ft14.9 m 49 ft10 minutes
Rothensee boat liftSaxony-Anhalt, Germany1938Vertical caisson1000 tons85 m × 12.2 m 279 ft × 40 ft16 m 52 ft20 minutes
Falkirk WheelFalkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom2002Rotating caisson600 tons21.33 m × 6 m × 1.37 m 70 ft × 20 ft × 4 ft24 m 79 fts4 minutesThe only rotating boat lift in the world.
Henrichenburg boat liftNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany1962Vertical caisson600 tons67 m × 8.2 m × 2 m 220 ft × 27 ft × 7 ft14 m 46 ft25 minutes
Geheyan Dam ship liftHubei, China1987Vertical caisson300 tons
Longtan Dam ship lift (first lift)Hechi, Guangxi Autonomous Region, China2020Vertical caisson500 tons73.0 m × 12.2 m × 3.5 m 240 ft × 40 ft × 11 ft62.4 m 205 ft
Longtan Dam ship lift (second lift)Hechi, Guangxi Autonomous Region, China2020Vertical caisson500 tons73.0 m × 12.2 m × 3.5 m 240 ft × 40 ft × 11 ft93.6 m 307 ft
Canal du Centre boat liftsHainaut, Belgium1888–1917Vertical caisson360 tons/350 tons40.1 m × 5.06 m × 2 m 132 ft × 17 ft × 7 ft16.93–15.4 m 56–51 ftThree lifts each 16.93 m high plus one 15.4 m high.
Fontinettes boat liftArques, Pas-de-Calais, France1881–88Vertical caisson300 tons39 m × 5.2 m × 2 m 128 ft × 17 ft × 7 ft13.13 m 43 ft5 minutesReplaced by a single lock in 1967.
Anderton boat liftCheshire, England, United Kingdom1875Vertical caisson250 tons22.9 m × 4.7 m × 2.9 m 75 ft × 15 ft × 10 ft15.25 m 50 ft
Montech water slopeMontech, Tarn-et-Garonne, France1974Water slope443 m × 13.3 m × 6 m 1,453 ft × 44 ft × 20 ft13.3 m 44 ft6 minutesOldest water slope.
Fonserannes Water SlopeHérault, France1980–1983Water slope272 m × 13.6 m 892 ft × 45 ft13.6 m 45 ft
Big Chute Marine RailwayOntario, Canada1917–1978Patent slip30.4 m × 18 m × 7.9 m 100 ft × 59 ft × 26 ft18 m 59 ft

See also

Further reading

  • Tew, David (1984). Canal Inclines and Lifts. Sutton Books. ISBN 0-86299-031-9.
  • Uhlemann, Hans-Joachim (2002). Canal lifts and inclines of the world (English Translation ed.). Internat. ISBN 0-9543181-1-0.

External links