The Liberian flagged Rhine Forest (IMO: 7125706) is 237 meters long, 33 meters wide and has a draught of 12 meters. The vessel is a so called LASH ship. LASH, an acronym for Lighter Aboard SHip, vessels each carry about 82 LASH barges. The barges, all of a standard size with cargo capacity of 385 tons, are towed in ports and on inland waterways to various shipping points where they are loaded with cargo and then returned to the oceangoing vessel. They are hoisted aboard by a special shipboard gantry-type crane and transported overseas where the process is reversed. LASH ships do not require special docks or terminals. The Rhine Forest is equipped with a 500-ton gantry crane to lift and stow 83 barges. Each barge is 18.26 meters long and 9.16 meters wide and has a capacity of 385 metric tons. She was built in 1972 by Cockerill Mechanical Industries, Belgium and is currently owned by LCI Shipholding Inc., New Orleans and managed by Central Gulf Lines Inc., New Orleans.
The Rhine Forest will enter the port of Rotterdam this morning and will berth at the Waalhaven for a few days. The vessel will then leave for New Orleans and will return to Rotterdam in 6 weeks
For more great pictures of the Rhine Forest see the (Dutch) site of Peter Bolhuis: http://members.lycos.nl/scheepvaart/fourdescphotos3.html
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