After more than 13 years of construction, the new Niederfinow boat lift was officially opened on 4 October 2022 and went into regular operation the following day. The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration invested around 520 million euros in this ship lift.
A lift that is second to none
The dimensions of the new ship lift are enormous: it is 54.55 metres high, 46.40 metres wide and 133 metres long. With the help of the vertical lift, modern barges can overcome a height difference of 36 metres. The trough, in which the ships can travel up or down, weighs 9800 tonnes.
100 per cent availability - that's as good as it gets! After one year of operation, we are very satisfied with the new boat lift. Thanks to the redundant operation of both lifts and the mild weather last winter, we were able to guarantee the operation of the Niederfinow canal stage on all days of the first year of operation," summarises Rolf Dietrich, Head of the Berlin Waterways Construction Office.
From October 2022 to September 2023, a total of 8,945 watercraft were channelled, of which 5,448 passed through the new and 3,497 through the old ship lift (from 1934!), which remains in operation during the warranty period. In the process, 2,712 goods ships, 2,169 passenger ships and 3,746 pleasure craft were channelled. With 2,076 vessels out of a total of 2,712, freight shipping predominantly utilises the new facility.
Second inspection - the old hoist steps in
Almost exactly one year to the day after the first structural inspection, the new ship's hoist will be taken out of operation again for a fortnight from 6 to 17 November 2023 as planned in order to carry out minor reworking and conversion work resulting from initial operating experience with the new system. Ships will then be able to use the old hoist again from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. In parallel operation of both lifts, the old system will only be operated from 9 am to 4 pm. It can be used by ships up to 82 metres in length and will remain in operation at least until the warranty for the new system expires in 2027.
The enthusiasm continues - daily guided tours
After around 30,000 visitors attended last year's four-day festival to mark the opening of the new hoist, SHW Tourismus- und Wirtschaftsentwicklungsgesellschaft Niederfinow mbH reports continued sustained interest and enthusiasm from tourists. In addition to the old hoist, the new building can also be visited and experienced. Guided tours into the new hoist are offered every hour between 10 am and 5 pm. Up-to-date information, for example on special events, can be found on the Website of the Niederfinow boat lift under "News". For example, on Tuesday, 31 October 2023 from 6 p.m. in the Krafthaus, there will once again be Halloween celebrated! Spooky fun, not just for children.
Four generations of descent structures
Uniquely in Europe, four generations of descent structures can be built in Niederfinow. inspected can be visited. In addition to the two ship lifts, the historic Finow Canal with the nearby Liepe lock and the old four-stage lock staircase from 1914, which was decommissioned over 40 years ago, are still in operation.
Also of great importance for Poland's economy
On the occasion of the rededication of a heavy goods loading point built for the expansion of the Dolna Odra power plant into a permanent transhipment point in Podjuchy on the Oder, Marek Gróbarczyk, the State Secretary responsible for inland navigation in Poland, recently emphasised once again the great importance of the Havel-Oder waterway for the Polish economy.
The Hohensaaten-Friedrichthaler waterway, an approximately 40 km long parallel canal to the Oder, connects the seaport location of Szczecin/Swinoujście to the Havel-Oder waterway with stable fairway conditions even during extremely low water events on the Oder. At the same time as removing the bottleneck with the new Niederfinow boat lift, the Polish waterway authorities also ordered the replacement of the Podjuchy railway bridge at kilometre 733.4 on the Oder (with the clearance height under the fixed bridge spans raised to 6.20 m above the highest navigable water level). With the dismantling of the old bridge superstructure in March 2023, two major infrastructure bottlenecks on the only waterway hinterland connection of a Baltic Sea port to the 22,000 km long Western European inland waterway network have now been eliminated almost simultaneously.
Data, facts, backgrounds
The new Niederfinow boat lift is designed for the passage of large motorised cargo ships of European waterway class V (pronounced "five") with maximum permissible dimensions of 110 m in length and 11.40 m in width as well as a clearance height under bridges of 5.25 m above an upper operating water level. With its commissioning, the Havel-Oder waterway can now be navigated by motor cargo and cabin ships up to 110 metres long. The old lift, on the other hand, is only authorised for the passage of vessels up to 82 m in length in accordance with the Inland Waterways Regulations (BinSchStrO).
A total of around 65,000 cubic metres of concrete and reinforced concrete and 8,900 tonnes of steel were used for the new ship's hoist, as well as around 40,000 square metres of sheet piling. In addition, around 400,000 cubic metres of earth were moved as part of the construction work.
The old ship's hoist will be kept operational for at least the duration of the warranty for its new replacement (until 2027).
Every year, up to 12,000 watercraft are sluiced in Niederfinow, of which around a third each are cargo ships, passenger ships, cabin ships and pleasure craft. The new lift can handle a cargo volume of up to 4 million tonnes of goods per year.
With more than 150,000 visitors a year, the Niederfinow boat lift is also one of the most important tourist attractions in the state of Brandenburg. Unique in Europe, visitors can take a look at four generations of descent structures on waterways: the old ship lift (in operation since 1934), the new ship's hoist (in operation since 5 October 2022), the old four-stage lock staircase (in operation from 1910 to 1972) and the Liepe lock (in operation since 1874) on the historic Finow Canal, which runs parallel to it.
Also interesting:
- The old Niederfinow boat lift: Report by Christian Tiedt
- Maritime architecture: The 10 most spectacular buildings for pleasure boaters
- Long rummage sale and Finow Canal: District reportage by Bodo Müller
- Finow Canal and Werbellin waters: reportage on the area by Ingrid Bardenheuer
- Annual meeting of the German Steamboat Association on the historic Finow Canal
