Thank you very much,my friend Hans!! All the best.Volker

You're welcome, Allan, and good morning to you. This Dutch specialty (the beunschip) is an own small "species" often mistaken for a normal dry cargo vessel. Their load comprises of (wet) sand, mud and gravel and their cargo compartment is surrounded by a second air-filled hull which guarantees stability especially when fully loaded. Many of these ships can be seen on the Western Scheldt removing sand and mud from the waterways and on the Ijsselmeer in connection with sand mining. So, although small in number, this ship type fulfills an important task in the shipping scene.

Best regards Hans

Having seen this description in various places, I tried to google translate beunschip and really got nowhere. So many thanks for the explanation here

Allan

Hello Volker, I have to correct a mistake I made in the description of the "beunschip". Please replace the word GRAIN in both cases by the word GRAVEL (Kies), I have certainly never witnessed a beunschip transporting grain.....

Sorry for the confusion and best regards to Büdelsdorf
Hans

Hello Volker, thanks for your nice comment. A socalled "beunschip" ia a special ship type developed in The Netherlands for transporting wet sand and grain and some other materials. Specially strengthened cargo holds are necessary for transporting this kind of cargo and surplus water can be drained to reduce weight. The lack of hatch covers is also a distinguishing feature of this ship type. I once read that around 350 examples of this ship type are operated in The Netherlands, which sounds reasonable to me. Many of them can be seen on the Western Scheldt in connection with dredging operations, but they can be seen as well in other parts of The Netherlands transporting dry sand or grain in many cases. A very interesting ship type in my eyes which is fortunately a frequent visitor to the Dutch Province of Limburg.
I hope I could give some explanations to your question, Volker, here is a link for some more info in Dutch language http://www.waterbouw.nl/jongeren/informatiemateriaal-waterbouw/uitleg-waterbouwmateriaal/beunschip/

Best wishes to you
Hans

A "beunschip" is an inland vessel used for transporting sand in bulk.
It is specially designed to do that without hatch covers.
"Beun"could be translated as "hopper"

Hello Hans.Fine shot.Please,what is a "beunschip"?! Cheers Volker