Glossary

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LASH vessel

A Lighter Aboard Ship or LASH vessel is a less well-known type of vessel that features an onboard crane for loading and unloading the floating cargo. Within this context, lighter does not refer to the crane but to the barge or sloop. Although the name could suggest that it involves various types of cargo, in practice, they are nearly always standardised pushed barges or lighters. After having been unloaded, the pushed barges can be linked up and shipped further inland, without the need for transhipping. Visa versa, the cargo can also be shipped in via inland navigation. The term lighter is probably derived from the Dutch and/or German language: in the past, sloops or barges (called a lichter, in Dutch or German) were moved alongside the ship to transfer the cargo into. The first LASH vessel was built in 1968 and, at the time, was regarded as an important breakthrough in oceanic transport, as it would serve as a future interface between oceanic transport and inland navigation. Waterman Steamship and Forest Lines (a subsidiary of the International Shipholding Corporation) is one of the most successful companies using LASH vessels and perhaps the only one using the LASH system in a commercially viable manner. The concept of LASH vessels never really flourished due to the advent of container ships: containers can be easily transferred to (other) ships, trains or trucks. LASH transfer is operated in e.g. the Rotterdam Waalhaven: iron, steel, paper and rice, among other things, are efficiently transhipped from oceanic ships to inland shippers and vice versa.

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