New ship lift in Niederfinow: current status of construction

The oldest ship lift which is still in operation, the ship lift at Niederfinow (built in 1934) is situated roughly halfway along the canal connecting the waterway hub at Berlin with the Baltic port of Stettin in Poland. It overcomes a height difference of 36 m and is currently being replaced by a new ship lift.

When the new lift goes into operation, it will be capable of transporting a modern motorized cargo ship loaded with 104 standard shipping containers instead of only 27 as at present. The total project costs of around 285 million Euros are being financed by the German federal government and the European Union (50 million Euros of ERDF funding).

After the final decision on construction was made in January 2005 and the execution planning for the lift was approved a year later, construction started in summer 2008.

In May of this year, the major concreting work for the mass concrete of the caisson well was completed. In early summer, construction started on the four pylons which will later accommodate driving and safety equipment as well as the staircases and elevator shafts of the new lift. In parallel with this, the columns supporting the cable pulley beams were concreted. The concreting work on the upper docking station and the abutment for the new canal bridge has already been almost completed.

The assembly of the steel caisson for the new ship lift is also making good progress. On 15th July 2012, the first wall elements of the 1.815-tonne steel caisson, which is being pre-fabricated in separate sections, were assembled on site. The installation of the seals and the canal lining in the new upper pound has also begun. Up to now, a total of ca. 15.000 t of steel and ca. 40.000 m³ of concrete have been used. Around 140 people are currently working on the construction of the new ship lift.

Despite some delays – the construction consortium led by Bilfinger und Berger is currently revising the construction schedule – trial operations are expected to be possible in 2015 at the latest.

In a checking consortium together with Germanischer Lloyd, KREBS+KIEFER was given the task of checking the structural design of the new lift. This included checking the concrete structures, the steel and hydraulic steel constructions, the mechanical engineering including all electrical engineering and control technology as well as the earthworks and all temporary structures.