The world's largest elevator lift operates in China

Recently, China has commissioned and tested the world's largest ship lifting machine at the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.

The Three Gorges Dam in Hubei Province, China was built to control flooding during the rainy season, storing and regulating water in the dry season, providing energy.

Lift elevators at Tam Hiep dam are considered the largest and most sophisticated ship lifting machine in the world to date. This lift can lift small and medium sized vessels, with a maximum displacement of 3,000 tons in the vertical direction upwards of 113 meters higher than the downstream.

The world's largest elevator lift operates in China Picture 1
The world's largest lifting elevator in the Three Gorges Dam.

This giant machine consists of a lifting compartment, a 120m long water tank, 18m wide, 3.5m deep. Including the weight of the machinery system and the amount of water contained in the tank, the lifting vessel weighs 15,500 tons.

The giant ship lift went into operation, helping to shorten the time for boats going through Tam Hiep dam to 40-60 minutes instead of 3-4 hours as before.

The project to build the world's largest ship lifting machine at the Three Gorges Dam began in 1994. The project was suspended in 1995 due to technical problems and continued to be rebuilt in 2008. Event of testing the lifting machine marked the completion of the project after 22 years of construction.