Centre canal
The Centrum Canal is a Belgian canal that connects the Charleroi-Brussel canal at Seneffe to the Nimy-Blaton-Péronnes canal at Nimy, near "Le Grand Large". It has a total length of 20.9 km. The canal is known for the ship lifts that have been built there. In the old Centrum canal there are 4 hydraulic ship lifts, and in the new part of the canal there is the Strépy-Thieu ship lift.
The desire to connect the Maas and Schelde rivers has existed for a long time. A canal would have to bridge a 96-meter height difference. In 1879, Edwin Clark came up with the idea of using not about 30 locks, but instead ship lifts, as done in England. The first ship lift was built between 1885 and 1888 and was put into service on June 4, 1888 by King Leopold II. The construction of the next three ship lifts was delayed. The economic necessity of the canal was disputed. In 1917, the lifts were almost ready. The outbreak of the First World War slowed down the construction of the rest of the canal. Finally, after the war in 1919, the canal was opened in its entirety.
The old canal is suitable for barges. With a capacity of about 350 tons, the canal was successful. Therefore, in 1957 it was decided to expand the canal for ships with a capacity of up to 1350 tons. The construction of this partially new canal began in the late 1970s.
It was decided to partially build a new canal instead of widening the original canal. To bridge the huge fall of the 4 original ship lifts, construction of a new, larger ship lift started in 1982. Due to budget problems, the construction of the ship lift would take over 20 years.
In 2002, the ship lift was put into service. However, shipping on the new canal was not yet possible. A canal bridge still had to be built over a busy road intersection.
In 2002, an accident occurred with a loaded barge in the Houdeng-Goegnies Ship Lift. When departing from the lower side, the tray suddenly went back up. The ship became stuck under the two doors in the door portal and buckled. It was not until 2011 that the lift would be fully repaired and ships could again pass through the lift.