New Niederfinow ship lift with SIEMAG TECBERG know-how

2009 marks the commencement of the new ship lift in Niederfinow, as part of the German government’s "Anti-Congestion Programme" Once completed, it will supersede Germany’s oldest still operating ship lift from the 1930s.

This lift has enabled vessels to overcome a height difference of 36 metres on the waterway to the Baltic Sea since 1934 and it will carry on to assist the new one for a while after its opening. On completion, the new ship lift it will be 133 m long and 56 m high. The caisson will be 125.5 m in length, 12.5 m in width and 4 m in depth, enabling watercraft up to 115 m in length and 11.45 m in breadth to pass through Niederfinow. The lift operates on the counterweight principle. SIEMAG TECBERG is contributing its decades of experience with counterweight systems in mining to this project. Thanks to thise counterweight principle the installed capacity of the drive for lifting and lowering the approx. 10,000 t ship caisson can be kept low.

As part of a study group, SIEMAG TECBERG, with its knowledge-based services, is responsible for all of the mechanical equipment, such as the drive, the safeguards, the holding fixture and guidance of the caisson as well as for the counterweight system with a total of 112 double-rope rollers.

The completion of construction work and the opening ceremony for the new Niederfinow ship lift at the end of the Oder-Havel waterway are scheduled for 2020.

For further technical data, please go to References.