How ships are raised on the river to a height of hundreds of meters (3 photos + 1 video)

How does an elevator work for ships on rivers where dams are installed.





Navigation on rivers where dams are installed is usually difficult due to the sharp changes in altitude. In order to help ships move across a body of water, special lifts are usually installed. One of the most record-breaking structures appeared in Guizhou province a couple of years ago.



The boat lift is located at the Goupitan Dam on the Wu River, which flows into the Yangtze. This elevator is a true technological miracle, capable of lifting a 500-ton ship to a height of 200 meters in ten minutes.



In fact, this is not one elevator, but a whole complex: there are three ship lifts here. They are connected to each other at different heights by canals with a total length of just over two kilometers. This system helps to work more efficiently and avoid ship congestion. While one cargo liner is floating along the canal, moving to the next elevator, the second one is just ascending on the first elevator.

We invite you to see how the largest of these elevators works.