Lock construction
Bata canal construction
In the southern part of the factory premises, on the side of the Dřevnice River, a landing place, 100 meters long and 18 meters wide, was built in which up to eight vessels, 40 meters long, could anchor. At the landing place also a lock with chamber was built and a short and wide arm with a slipway on slightly sloping-down bank was excavated. The rails from the slipway led to a high workshop which bore a sign “Shipyard”, unusual for Otrokovice. The manager of the Bata Works engineering plant charged his technicians and Mr. Bartek, chief of engineering plants in Baťov, to design a freight boat with loading capacity of 150 tonnes. The boat was constructed during four months and it was launched on 3 March 1938. Altogether twenty locksmiths under the leadership of Mr. Křivák worked on it.
The first half of 1938 was marked by finishing works. In spring months, a new Morava riverbed was broken through in an interesting way in Babice. On the lowland called “Štěpnice”, the old riverbed with its deep bend hollowed out by floods got alarmingly close to the canal, and there was a danger of its rupture. The hitherto river bend had to be removed by transferring it to the newly regulated riverbed, which was 350 metres long and 84 metres wide.
