🇳🇱NL / 🇬🇧EN

🌍 The online platform dedicated to the fascinating world of inland shipping.

As a passionate inland shipping photographer, I capture the daily life, activity, and beauty of inland vessels on Europe’s waterways. From modern container barges to traditional cargo ships, each vessel tells its own story — and I aim to preserve those stories through photography.

What you’ll find here

• Photo galleries – Explore extensive collections of inland vessels photographed across the Netherlands, Belgium, and beyond.

• Spotting reports – Read about my spotting trips along rivers, canals, and ports, often featuring unique ships and special moments.

For international visitors

Inland shipping plays a vital role in European transport and logistics. This website offers you a closer look at the ships that keep goods moving through Europe’s rivers and canals. Even if you are new to inland shipping, you’ll discover the charm, diversity, and importance of this industry.

Enjoy browsing, and feel free to share my work with other maritime enthusiasts worldwide!

📷 Binnenvaartspotter.nl – Capturing the world of inland shipping.

Inland Dry Cargo Vessels
Inland dry cargo vessels, also known as dry cargo ships, are purpose-built for the transportation of solid goods that are not stored in tanks. They play a vital role in Europe’s logistics network, particularly across the inland waterways of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and beyond.

Cargo Types
These versatile vessels carry a wide range of bulk goods such as grain, coal, ores, sand, gravel, scrap metal, fertilizers, and wood products, as well as general cargo including pallets and big bags.

These inland waterway vessels specifically designed for the transport of both dry and wet bulk cargoes with a relatively high specific weight, such as sand, gravel, ores, and sludge.

Their robust construction, double hulls, and low freeboard make them particularly well-suited for carrying dredged material and sprayed sand.

Inland Container Vessels

Here you will find inland vessels that are specifically designed—or adapted—for the transportation of containers. These ships play a crucial role in intermodal transport, enabling goods to be transferred efficiently between different modes of transport, such as from sea to inland waterways and vice versa.

Inland Tankers

Inland tankers are purpose-built vessels designed for transporting liquid and gaseous cargoes across rivers, canals, and other inland waterways. They form a vital link in the transport of fuels, chemical products, foodstuffs, and gases.

Types of Cargo

• Mineral oils: such as gasoline, diesel, and gas oil
• Chemicals: such as acids, alkalis, and ethanol
• Foodstuffs: such as vegetable oil and molasses
• Gases (in gaseous or liquid form): such as butane, propane, and ammonia

Pusher and Tugboats in Inland Shipping

Different types, highly versatile!

Within inland shipping, three types are distinguished: push boats, traditional tugboats, and tugboats with a push bow. The latter are multifunctional, as they can both tow and push. Equipped with a towing hook as well as a push bow, they are ideally suited for a wide variety of transport tasks.

Coupled Convoys

A coupled convoy typically consists of multiple vessels that are connected together. This can involve two or more ships, usually combining a motor vessel and/or a push boat with several non-motorized units such as barges.

Specialized Inland Vessels

Crane ships, dredgers, sand suction dredgers, and self-discharging vessels are specialized inland ships, each with a distinct function.

• Crane ships use their own crane for loading and unloading.
• Dredgers remove silt and sand from waterways.
• Sand suction dredgers extract sand from the riverbed for reuse.
• Self-discharging vessels unload their cargo independently with built-in systems.
• These vessels play an essential role in cargo transport, hydraulic engineering, and the maintenance of inland waterways.

Here you will find both maritime and non-maritime photographs, taken on location, along the waterfront, and in the floodplains of our rivers.

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