The Scharnebeck twin ship lift is a

boat lift 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 ...

Scharnebeck Scharnebeck is a municipality in the district of Lüneburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately northeast of Lüneburg. The Scharnebeck twin ship lift on the Elbe Lateral Canal The Elbe Lateral Canal (german: Elbe-Seitenk ...

, northeast of

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...

, in the District of Lüneburg,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is on the

Elbe Lateral Canal The Elbe Lateral Canal (german: Elbe-Seitenkanal; ), is a long canal in Lower Saxony, Germany. It runs from the Mittelland Canal near Gifhorn to the Elbe in Artlenburg. It forms an important transport connection between southern and northern G ...

, which connects the

Elbe The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Re ...

(northern and lower endpoint, at Artlenburg) and the

Mittellandkanal The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...

(southern and upper endpoint, near

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's he ...

), and is one of two constructions on the canal that overcomes the height difference between the canal endpoints, the other being a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

further south at

Uelzen Uelzen (; officially the ''Hanseatic Town of Uelzen'', German: ''Hansestadt Uelzen'', , Low German ''Ülz’n'') is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a ...

. The Scharnebeck twin ship lift was built in and was at that time the largest ship lift in the world. The first ship passed through the lift on 5 December 1975. There is a museum at the site.

Technical data

*Design: double counterweight lift *Construction cost: 152 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

*Vertical lift: max. (depending on the water level of the Elbe) *Trough size: usable length x usable width x water depth *Gate safety: The catch ropes at the trough gates reduce the usable length of the trough by . *Total weight of the trough filled with water: *Total moving weight of a trough, the water contained, and associated parts: approx. *Weight of one counterweight of which there are 224 per trough: approx. , giving a total of per trough *Dimensions of one counterweight: *Thickness of the steel cables: *Source of power: Per trough, 4 electric motors of each, giving a total of *Time taken to lift or lower a trough: 3 minutes *Time taken to pass through the lift: 15–20 minutes *Visitors per year: approx. 500,000

External links

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Technical Data

Technical data

Further reading

External links

See also