October 5, 2022The German town where boats take the elevatorGermany's whopping new boat lift could lug the weight of 50 blue whales over a stretch of canal between Poland and Berlin.The powerful concrete elevator—the country's largest—is designed for big modern barges, and began welcoming ships for the first time on Wednesday.The lift around 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Berlin takes a few minutes to hoist boats over a height of 36 metres—allowing them to travel smoothly from the Polish port of Szczecin to the German capital.With its mesh of metal cables, the huge concrete structure rises up against a backdrop of green fields by the Oder-Havel Canal in the state of Brandenburg.Tourist attractionThe new version is 30 metres longer than its predecessor and can carry nearly twice as much weight—equivalent to "50 adult blue whales or 1,600 elephants", Wissing said at the official opening on Tuesday."