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 unpowered barge, between inland waterways separated by open seas. Lighters are typically towed or pushed around harbors, canals or rivers and cannot be relocated under their own power. The carrier ships are known variously as LASH carriers, barge carriers, kangaroo ships or lighter transport ships.
MV Rhine Forest in the Port of Rotterdam
70th Naval Construction Battalion Seabees operating a 6 x 20 barge
Stern of Acadia Forest, photographed in Rotterdam, showing one of the lighters on the gantry crane, positioned fully aft.
Lash Turkiye 1971 in Piraeus
Sevmorput is a Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship. The 1988-built vessel is one of only four nuclear-powered merchant ships ever built and, after returning to service in 2016 following an extensive refit, the only such vessel to remain in service as of 2023.
Sevmorput in the Baltic Sea in February 2020
Sevmorput behind the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal
Model of Sevmorput