To make goods transport possible for 1350-tonne ships, a new route had to be built for the Belgian golden age of the coal industry. That included the construction of different ship lifts. The ship lifts are located on the waterway between the Maas and the Scheldt, the so-called Center Canal.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
Lift no. 2, the Houdeng-Aimeries lift, is one of the four hydraulic ships lifts on the historic canal. The ship lifts are of double design and are hydraulically connected to each other, whereby the weight of one box compensates for the weight of the other. The boat lift is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
Since 2002, these works of art are only used for pleasure boating. Freight transport has since been diverted via the large Strépy ship lift. Houdeng-Aimeries is a small village in the province of Hainaut, and a part of the Walloon city of La Louvière.