Bernd F. Meier heads for Mons to witness the extraordinary machines that raise ships in the air.

Technology fans can look forward to finding century-old engineering still operating at the historic Canal du Centre in the old Belgian industrial town of Mons.

The city's 19th century boat lift has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. Another lift, placed right beside the original in 2002, is the largest system of boat lifts in the world. And only a few kilometres away, the inclined plane of Ronquieres beckons.

Today, the good ship Henrichenburg is inching from the canal into the lift's metal enclosure. Once the gates shut, the ship looks like a toy floating in an oversized bathtub. Suddenly, the bathtub starts moving, pulled higher by steel cables, and the canal seems to grow smaller as the distance grows.

A few long minutes later and the tub is now 17 metres higher. There are four such ship lifts at Mons, where the Canal du Centre links the river systems of the Maas and the Schelde in the southern Belgian province of Hennegau. The hydraulic lifts were built during the construction of the canal from 1882 to 1917. With their multiple supports and struts, they somehow resemble the Eiffel Tower.

At the close of the 19th century, the lifts were the last word in modern technology.

"Then, just like today, the lifts needed almost no extra energy," says tour guide Xavier De Ryck. Instead, the lifts are powered solely by water.

"A second basin beside the first is filled with water until it is heavier than the basin with the ship," says De Ryck. "Water levels, about 30 centimetres higher, are usually enough to set the lift in motion."

These days it's quiet along the Canal du Centre, which was added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 1998 because of its lifts. Nowadays, tourist ships ply the canal's routes from April until the end of October.




A few kilometres further on, the shipping route winds through the hilly Hennegau countryside. European liners weighing 1,350 tons ascend or decline in two giant steel tubs at the lifts of Strepy-Thieu. The lift ride is only supposed to take 38 minutes. Once upon a time, it took these smaller freighters five hours to negotiate this part of their journey.

Technology enthusiasts get one more treat in the land of canals and locks when they reach the inclined plane of Ronquiere.

"There's a 68-metre height differential between Charleroi and Brussels to overcome," says De Ryck. "That's why freighters guide themselves into huge basins, in which they're pulled 1.4 kilometres along tracks." About 50 freighters a day make the trip over the plane, which was built in 1968 and is one of the largest structures of its kind in the world.

DPA