Inland Navigation Photography

Inland navigation photography is about capturing inland navigation with its ships and logistics and putting the industry into perspective. Inland navigation is the transport of goods by using ships on inland waterways. Inland waterways are navigable rivers, canals and lakes Inland navigation photography captures barges and other inland navigation ships in action. This site is dedicated to inland navigation in all its facets.

What is Inland Navigation?

Inland navigation describes the transport of goods by ships on rivers, canals and lakes.

An inland navigation ship is build for use on rivers, canals and lakes. Inland navigation ships are build for the transport of dry cargo and as container ships.

The difference between ocean going vessels and inland navigation ships is that the latter have less draught than the former. Also, inland navigation ships (=barge) are less stable than ocean-going vessels as these ships do not have to master big waves. On top of that inland navigation ships have only limited headroom in order to pass under all river bridges.

Inland Navigation in Europe

In Europe inland navigation is practised on all major rivers and canals. The great rivers on where we can see inland navigation in practise are:

• Danube (DE, AT, SK, HU, KR, RS, BG, RO, MD, UA) 
• Don (RU)
• Rhine (DE, CH)
• Elbe (DE,CZ)
• Oder (DE, PL)
• Main (DE)
• Mosel (FR, DE)
• Neckar (DE)
• Werra (DE)
• Lahn (DE)
• Weser (DE)
• Maas (FR, BE, NL)
• Rhone (FR)
• Moldau (CZ)
• Seine (FR)
• Marne (FR)
• Somme (BE, FR)
• Leie (BE)
• Schelde (BE)

Which Canals do we have in Germany?

Apart from rivers and lakes there are also canals where inland navigation is practised. Canals were built in the past centuries to enable the transport of goods with ships and ligthers. Canals connect rivers and thereby enlarge the reach of inland navigation across countries. Canals are the means of connecting the natural rivers in Europa and are the major hinges of a Europe-wide inland navigation network. Germany possesses quite a number of canals which connect the European rivers from the East to the West. The major canals in Germany are:

• Dortmund-Ems-Kanal
• Elbe Seitenkanal
• Elbe-Lübeck-Kanal
• Ems-Vechte-Kanal
• Ems-Jade-Kanal
• Finnow-Kanal
• Wehrbellin-Kanal
• Main-Donau-Kanal
• Mittellandkanal
• Nord-Ostsee-Kanal
• Obere Havel Wasserstrasse
• Obere Spree Wasserstrasse
• Spree-Oder-Wasserstraße
• Elbe-Havel-Kanal
• Havel-Kanal

Inland navigation ships ferry container from the seaports to the inland harbours. The pre-carriage or forwarding of containers from the inland to the seaports is done by container barges which connect the inland industries with the seaports. This so-called hinterland traffic plays a major part in connecting the inland industries with the seaports. Below you can see a container barge on its way to the seaports of Antwerp / Rotterdam.

Ship types in Inland Navigation

Inland navigation knows a variety of different ship types. Different sorts of freight require different ship types: We differ between dry cargo and liquid cargo. With liquid cargo there are two ship types required: Gas Tankers and Oil Tankers. Dry cargo barges show at least six different types of ships:

• Gas Tanker
• Oil Tanker
• Gustav Koenigs
• Euro Barge
• Large motor barge
• Container Barge
• Rhine Container Barge
• RoRo-Ship (RoRo = Roll on roll off)
• Coupled Convoy
• Pushed Convoy

What is a pushed convoy?

A pushed convoy consists of a pusher boat with at least one lighter or a number of up to six lighters, with the lighters coupled together. The pusher boat is a motor-propelled boat or self-propelled vessel. The lighter of this coupling are not powered by engines.

Pusher convoys carry bulk cargo or dry bulk. The load capacity of a ligther is a maximum of 2,800 ton. A fully loaded pusher convoy of 6 lighters can carry a maximum load of 16,800 ton.

Container Barges on the River Rhine

On the river Rhine barges transport bulk cargo. There are also barges that carry liquid substances such as gas or oil. The following images shows a gas tanker. 

Inland Navigation on the River Rhine

Inland navigation on the river Rhine has a long tradition going back to Roman times when the Romans shipped their goods on floats up and down the river Rhine. Since then, inland navigation on the river Rhine has gone from strength to strength. Inland navigation connects from the Rhine/Waal/Lek/Maas estuary with the states of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland. Every day container barges transport container between Basle and the big sea ports Rotterdam and Antwerpen. On the river Rhine, also on a daily basis, coal, coke, rare earth metals and bulk cargo are transported by inland navigation ships.

The most important inland harbours along the River Rhine

The most important inland harbours along the river Rhine are Basle, Straßburg, Kehl, Karlsruhe, Germersheim, Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Worms, Germsheim, Mainz, Lahnstein, Koblemz, Bendorf, Godorf, Köln-Niehl, Leverkusen Dormagen, Neuss, Düsseldorf, Krefeld, Ruhrort, Wesel, Emmerich, Nijmegen, Dordrecht and Rotterdam.

Barge Gallery - Inland Navigation Images