Lighter

A lighter is a flat-bottomed, shallow-draft barge used to transfer cargo between a ship anchored in a roadstead and the shore where the vessel cannot come alongside a quay. The act of working cargo this way is lighterage; the charge for it is the lighterage rate. Lighters were rowed, sailed, or towed, and were essential at ports lacking deep-water berths before mechanized container terminals. The term survives in ’lighter aboard ship’ (LASH) carriers, which load floatable lighter barges directly.