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 using a moveable hoist rather than caissons. The lift operated between 1789 and 1868,Charles Hadfield World Canals: Inland Navigation Past and Present, p. 71, 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 Canals of Southwest England Charles Hadfield, p. 104,
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 BritainThe Canals of Southwest England Charles Hadfield, p. 109, 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 high lift system is operated by gravity alone, with the upper bay of the two bay system loaded with an additional of water as to give it greater weight.
Before the construction of the Three Gorges Dam Ship Lift, the highest boat lift, with a 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 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 at the second level when completed.
Selected lift locks + Notable lift locks – ordered by size Name Location OpenedType Displacement Dimensions Vertical lift Cycle time Notes Goupitan ship-lifting system (second lift) Guizhou, China 2021 Vertical caisson500 tons Tallest boat lift in the world.Goupitan ship-lifting system (first lift)Guizhou, China2021Vertical caisson500 tons Three Gorges Dam ship lift Yichang, Hubei, China 2016 Vertical caisson 3000 tons 30–40 minutes Krasnoyarsk Dam ship lift Divnogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia 1982 Inclined plane 1500 tons 90 minutes Ronquières inclined plane lift Braine-le-Comte, Hainaut, Belgium 1968Inclined plane 1350 tons 22 minutes Strépy-Thieu boat lift Le Rœulx, Hainaut, Belgium 2002Vertical caisson 1350 tons 7 minutes Tallest boat lift in Europe. Scharnebeck twin ship lift Lüneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany 1974Vertical caisson 1350 tons 3 minutes Niederfinow boat lift Brandenburg, Germany 1934Vertical caisson 20 minutes Niederfinow north boat lift Brandenburg, Germany 2022Vertical caisson 2100 tonnes Peterborough lift lock Ontario, Canada 1904Vertical caisson 1300 tons 10 minutes Kirkfield Lift Lock Ontario, Canada 1907Vertical caisson 1300 tons 10 minutes Rothensee boat lift Saxony-Anhalt, Germany 1938 Vertical caisson 1000 tons 20 minutes Falkirk Wheel Falkirk, Scotland, United Kingdom 2002Rotating caisson 600 tons s 4 minutes The only rotating boat lift in the world. Henrichenburg boat lift North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany 1962Vertical caisson 600 tons 25 minutes Geheyan Dam ship lift Hubei, China 1987 Vertical caisson 300 tons Longtan Dam ship lift (first lift) Hechi, Guangxi Autonomous Region, China 2020 Vertical caisson 500 tons Longtan Dam ship lift (second lift)Hechi, Guangxi Autonomous Region, China2020Vertical caisson500 tons Canal du Centre boat lifts Hainaut, Belgium 1888–1917Vertical caisson 360 tons/350 tons Three lifts each 16.93 m high plus one 15.4 m high. Fontinettes boat lift Arques, Pas-de-Calais, France 1881–88Vertical caisson 300 tons 5 minutes Replaced by a single lock in 1967. Anderton boat lift Cheshire, England, United Kingdom 1875Vertical caisson 250 tons Montech water slopeMontech, Tarn-et-Garonne, France1974Water slope6 minutesOldest water slope.Fonserannes Water SlopeHérault, France1980–1983Water slopeBig Chute Marine RailwayOntario, Canada1917–1978Patent slip
See also
List of boat lifts Lock (water transport) Balance lock Canal inclined plane – another technique for lifting boats Caisson lock – a submerged boat lift Shiplift – used for raising vessels in shipyards Marine railway inclined plane for shipyards Water slope Saint-Louis-Arzviller boat lift, France – which is actually a canal inclined plane Portable boat lift Patent slip
References
Further reading
External links
Source mentions its own sources The International Canal Monuments List Three Gorges Dam Big Chute, Ontario – in fact an inclined plane Twin Ship Elevator Lüneburg – Technical data of the Scharnebeck twin ship lift near Lüneburg, Germany Dutch boat lift page