A lighter is a type of flat-bottomed
barge
Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...
used to transfer goods and passengers to and from
moored
A mooring is any permanent structure to which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties, piers, anchor buoys, and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to forestall free movement of the ship on the water. An ''an ...
ships. Lighters were traditionally unpowered and were moved and steered using long
oar
An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Rowers grasp the oar at the other end.
The difference between oars and paddles is that oars are used exclusively for rowing. In rowing the oar is connecte ...
s called "sweeps" and the motive power of water currents. They were operated by skilled workers called
lightermen
A lighterman is a worker who operates a lighter, a type of flat-bottomed barge, which may be powered or unpowered. In the latter case, today it is usually moved by a powered tug. The term is particularly associated with the highly skilled men ...
and were a characteristic sight in
London's docks until about the 1960s, when technological changes made this form of
lightering Lightering (also called lighterage) is the process of transferring cargo between vessels of different sizes, usually between a barge (lighter) and a bulker or oil tanker. Lightering is undertaken to reduce a vessel's draft so it can enter port facil ...
largely redundant. Unpowered lighters continue to be moved by powered tugs, however, and lighters may also now themselves be powered. The term is also used in the
Lighter Aboard Ship
The lighter aboard ship (LASH) system refers to the practice of loading barges (lighters) aboard a bigger vessel for transport. It was developed in response to a need to transport lighters, a type of (usually but not always) unpowered barge, be ...
(LASH) system.
The name itself is of uncertain origin, but is believed to possibly derive from an old
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
or
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
word, ''lichten'' (to lighten or unload). In Dutch, the word ''lichter'' is still used for smaller ships that take over goods from larger ships.
Lighters, albeit powered ones, were proposed to be used in 2007 at
Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...
and
Whyalla
Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta i ...
in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
to load
Capesize
Capesize ships are the largest dry cargo ships with ball mark dimension: about 170,000 DWT (deadweight tonnage) capacity, 290 m long, 45 m beam (wide), 18m draught (under water depth). They are too large to transit the Suez Canal ( Suezmax lim ...
ships which are too big for the shallower waters close to shore.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
widely uses lighters in midstream operations where lighters transport cargo, mostly containers, between oceangoing vessels or to and from terminals. Lighters in Hong Kong are usually equipped with cranes of 40-60
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s capacity, and the largest ones can carry up to 300
TEU containers (empties). Lighters are usually not fitted with engines but are towed or pushed by tugboats. In 2007, midstream operators handled about 2 million TEUs and 5 million TEUs were transported as river trade cargo which are heavily dependent on lighters.
In the UK, some older lighters have been converted into houseboats (for living on the river). As they lack engine rooms and gearbox, shaft or propellers, this means maximum usage of the hull space into housespace. As they have no propulsion methods, they are towed from conversion sites to permanent or semi-permanent mooring sites. They have
macerators to deal with toilet waste.
Lighter tug
The lighter barge gave rise to the "lighter tug", a small, manoeuvrable type of
harbour tug. Lighter tugs—or simply "lighters"—are designed for towing lighter barges. As such, they are smaller than traditional harbour tugs and lack the power or equipment to handle large ships.
Gallery
Image:Hong Kong cargo lighter.jpg, A lighter carrying shipping containers (loaded and unloaded by the tall derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and ...
-crane on the lighter's top-deck) in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.
Image:DA-ST-87-01750.jpeg, A US Army LACV-30
The LACV-30 (Lighter Air Cushion Vehicle, 30 tons) was a hovercraft used by the U.S. Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command (MERADCOM) for offloading cargo from amphibious ships. For logistic transport, the Army was already usin ...
(Lighter Air Cushion Vehicle - 30 Ton) hovercraft transporting ground-support military equipment to the shore in 1986.
Image:LCVP prototype.jpg, A lighter for mechanized equipment designed by A. J. Higgins in 1941
Image:Ash Lighter (YA-13) photographed in 1941.jpeg, USN Ash Lighter (YA-13) photographed in 1941
Image:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Melasse lichters liggen naast een vrachtschip op de reede van Semarang Midden-Java de lading van de lichters wordt in het vrachtschip gezogen TMnr 60011530.jpg, Several lighters beside a cargo ship's side somewhere off Java in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), about 1925.
See also
*
Car float
A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a t ...
*
Dutch barge
A Dutch barge is a traditional flat-bottomed shoal-draught barge, originally used to carry cargo in the shallow '' Zuyder Zee'' and the waterways of Netherlands. There are very many types of Dutch barge, with characteristics determined by regio ...
*
Type B ship
The Type B ship is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for World War II barges. Barges are very low cost to build, operate and move. Barges were needed to move large bulky cargo. A tug boat, some classed as Type V ships, co ...
References
Barges
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