Aiming at the operational reliability of ship lift，this paper takes the drive system of gear-rack climbing mechanism ship lift as the research object，analyzes the impact of the number of faults and the time for maintenance on the operational reliability based on the reliability theory and the statistics of the operation and maintenance data of the drive system，calculates the operational reliability of the drive system and its components，and proposes the following recommendations to improve the operating reliability. It is necessary to attach great importance to maintenance，repair，optimization，and upgrading of electromechanical equipment such as drive gear carrier mechanism，electrical transmission equipment，sensor detection devices，and fully consider the convenience of equipment maintenance. The operation reliability calculation and analysis method are based on the number of faults and the time for maintenance，which can accurately reflect the operation reliability of the ship lift.