Sluices have been built worldwide since in 984 when the first sluice was built in China to speed up the operations in the Grand canal. Since that time different types of sluices have been developed world wide both in size and material use and their own shipping and structural characteristics. One of the main drawbacks of the present sluice designs is the waiting time. This problem of the waiting time is in principle overcome by the design of the gelsluice (gellock). This paper describe the development of sluices construction in general and with the emphasis on the characteristics of the innovative gelsluice. A preliminary design of the gelsluice will be discussed and presented. Finally some recommendations are presented for further research to improve the design of the gelsluice.@en