A milestone in development of the European waterway network for 3000-tonne barges and push-tows was marked on Tuesday 4 October when the 36m-high Niederfinow shiplift was officially opened, on the Havel-Oder Canal.
The first vessel to pass through the new lift, with its striking architecture, was the Waterway Authority’s icebreaker Frankfurt. Barges and tankers up to 115m long can now transport cargoes between the Polish port of Szceczin and Berlin and beyond.
When we visited the site in May 2022, before attending the World Canals Conference in Leipzig, we saw that even a single-barge Polish push-tow had to split to pass through the original lift, opened in 1933, with its usable length of only 83.50m.
Thanks to the new lift, completing more than 40 years of works throughout the Mittelland Canal and the Havel-Oder Canal from the Rhine to the river Oder, Berlin is now uniquely placed for a revival of its historic status as a strategic inland port.
The new lift will significantly boost waterborne trade between Szceczin and Berlin, including river-sea vessels, expected to expand trade with the Scandinavian countries and the UK.
The passenger vessel Pelikan II leaves the giant Niederfinow
lift during the opening ceremony on 4 October 2022.
©Tomáš Kolařík, Plavba a vodní cesty
It took 14 years to build the new lift, since the initial designs had to be modified several times. The cost increased to 520 million euros. The boat lift is so unique that German engineers advised the Chinese builders of the Three Gorges Dam with their 112m-high boat lift, which opened in 2015.
Completion of the Niederfinow lift coincides with the current need to expand Europe’s transport infrastructure and diversify its sources of raw materials.
In the context of Europe’s current energy crisis, the waterway could be used by tanker barges carrying liquefied natural gas from the terminal at Świnoujście, Poland.
A large container terminal at Świnoujście is also expected to generate waterborne container traffic to inland terminals on the route to Berlin and beyond, including to the Czech Republic.
During his speech at the opening ceremony, German Transport Minister Volker Wissing underlined the importance of modal shift from roads to waterways.