Repairs will be carried out in the old Niederfinow ship lift from 21 July 2025. Cracking noises during a trough trip led to the discovery of wear on the first disc coupling outside the northeast drive.
Jörg Schumacher, operations centre manager at the Niederfinow boat lifts, explains: "The wear affects the nose wedges and their seat on the shaft, which impairs the connection between the coupling and the shaft. This repair is rare, the last one was carried out over 25 years ago."
Extensive repairs in Niederfinow
The coupling is part of the ring shaft system that ensures the synchronisation of the four drives. For the repair, parts of the shaft are removed and the coupling replaced. Heavy components will be installed using a roof crane from the old ship's hoist. Once the work has been completed, which is scheduled to last until 8 August 2025, operations will resume.
The total costs amount to around 37,000 euros and are being financed by the federal government via the Oder-Havel Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA), which is responsible for the maintenance and operation of the Niederfinow lift.
No impairment of traffic
Traffic on the Oder-Havel waterway will not come to a standstill due to the cancellation: The successor was inaugurated in October 2022 after 14 years of construction: the new Niederfinow North ship lift. The 55 metre high ship lift, which cost almost 400 million euros, will initially run in parallel with the old ship lift right next door, which is still in operation.
When the latter went into service exactly 90 years ago - after just eight years of construction - it was considered the largest ship lift in the world. However, it no longer met the requirements of modern freight transport. It is too short for pushed convoys. With around 11,000 ships passing through Niederfinow every year, it has reached the limits of its capacity.
Still in parallel operation until 2027
It is expected to remain in operation until 2027 so that it can step in if the successor fails. And indeed, this back-up proved to be useful, as the new hoist had to struggle with a few teething troubles in the first few years and had to be readjusted several times. Now the old Niederfinow hoist itself has to take another break.
