Shiplifts

Shiplift:

The shiplift in the three gorges dam in china is the world's largest ship lift. The shiplift lifts 12,800 tons up 113 metres. The shiplift is seen under construction in the picture below:

It is located next to the three gorges shiplocks which are the biggest locks in the world. The second tallest shiplift in the world is the strepy-thieu boat lift in Hainaut in Belgium. It handles a height difference of 73.15 metres (240 feet) between the upstream and downstream:

There are also Horizontal shiplifts which are called Inclined planes. The biggest of this type in the world is the Ronquières Inclined Plane in Belgium. It has a length of 1,432 m and lifts boats through 67.73 m vertically. It consists of two large caissons mounted on rails. Each caisson measures 91 m long by 12 m wide and has a water depth between 3 and 3.70 m. It can carry one boat of 1,350 tonnes or many smaller boats within the same limits:

The tower at the highest point of this ship lift is an important landmark in the surounding area:

Only two other of these kind of big horizontal shiplifts excist in the world. These are The Saint-Louis-Arzviller inclined plane in France which provides a tranverse change in level of 44.55m:

and the Krasnojarks dam shiplift in Russia:

A shiplift which for sure should be mentioned when talking about special designs is the Falkirk wheel shiplift in Falkirk, Scotland. The Falkirk wheel is the world’s only rotating boat-lift. It is not suitable for big cargo ships but only for smaller "pleasure" vessels: