Inland waterway

An inland waterway is a navigable river, canal, or lake used for commercial barge and vessel traffic, classified by the size of vessel it can carry. Europe uses the CEMT classification, which grades waterways from Class I (small barges under about 400 t) up to Class VII (large pushed convoys over 27,000 t), set by the controlling lock chamber, channel depth, and bridge clearance. The class fixes the maximum length, beam, draft, and air draft on a route, so a Class Va waterway passes a 110 m by 11.4 m motor vessel of roughly 3,000 t. Waterway class governs barge fleet selection and inland-port berth design.