Hello Allan, fully agree with you - the histories of many of these vessels and their high durability are quite remarkable. I've seen so many inland ships having served for 80 to 100 years and many of them have retained their vintage looks. The whole family life happened aboard these vessels - from birth to death.

The interaction between seagoing and inland vessels is another fascinating aspect, well visible when visiting ports like Rotterdam or Antwerp.

And that mixture of modern and vintage inland vessels - at least in some parts of Central Europe - is quite unique and attractive in my eyes.

Best wishes, Hans

Obviously we don't get these sorts of vessels in the UK (although a couple have made it to the Thames as bunkering vessels) but in the days when I could get to Terneuzen I used to photograph as many as I could and I was amazed at some of their histories...many are very old and have been rebuilt so many times I guess there is not much of the original left....and for me that is their interest

Allan

Moin Volker, thanks for commenting. I certainly like inland vessels and I think that inland shipping is a really fascinating part of the shipping world, but this is just my personal opinion. Other persons may have other opinions and that is completely okay. It's good to have different points of view about a topic. If everybody had the same opinion - THAT would be really boring :-)

Best wishes to both of you, have a good time my friend.

Cheers, Hans

Moin Hans my friend.Inland vessels are not boring.There are often inland vessels in the Kreishafen Rendsburg.One of the(Schipper) is a friend of mine.Motorschiff "TANJA" ENI:4603230. Best wishes to you and Renate. Volker

Thanks for your comment, Denis, I'm glad you like the pic. But I have to say that inland vessels are not boring at all, at least for many people. The more you know about inland shipping the more interesting it gets :-)).

Cheers, Hans

Fantastic shot, Seaweasel! Sometimes these random boring inland vessels do make it to a good composition! :D