Niederfinow Boat Lift

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 boat lift consists of 14,000 Tonnes of riveted structural steelwork standing on steel columns.

Pin gearing with D.C.motors in Leonards electric motor speed controllers, connected together by a shaft allow a symmetrical drive.

These move freely under normal circumstances but would seize if a cable broke providing extra safety.

Because of the continuing increase in traffic on the Oder-Havel-Kanal, in 1997 it was decided that a new, bigger lift should be built next to the present one.

The new lift, which was built by Bilfinger Berger[2] and developed in partnership with Johann Bunte,[3] was finished in October 2022.