training & jobs

A job on the inland navigation fleet offers chances and opportunities. It is an attractive profession for youngsters: free, adventurous, and there is something for everyone.

Inland barges you will find in all kinds and sizes, and for every mission you can think of. Look at the variety of container ships, barges for dry freight, tankers, bunker ships. Inland waterways in Europe stretch for some 33.000 km: board an inland barge and you will see the world. You will discover cities abroad, meet foreign crews, it is even possible to sail straight up to the Black Sea.

Some prefer to work in a shift scheme, others prefer to take their family on board. Both options are possible. You may want to make routine journeys, with always the same kind of freight and the same destination. Or you can choose for tramp shipping, with every single voyage that is different and always a surprise.

Inland navigation strongly needs professional crew. They are no softies. They need to show ambition, they have to know how to set about their work, they must be able to team up with colleagues. Yes, there is a lot of sailing, but there is the maintenance work just as well: reparations, painting, maintenance of the engine, polishing and scrubbing, small repair works. And you need to have brains. These days, a modern inland vessel is stuffed up with high tech, from radars to satellite communication equipment.

On an inland barge, you will find everything you also have at home: your own corner, television, internet access. But you will find so much more. All those things ‘they’ will envy you onshore.