Container shipping in 1 meter of water.

Modular HDPE-Aluminium hybrid catamarans for low-water river freight.

When the Rhine runs dry, steel barges run aground. ModuBarge keeps sailing. Our lightweight, twin-hull catamarans carry full 20ft shipping containers at drafts where traditional vessels are forced to offload 70% of their cargo. Built in the Netherlands. Engineered for the new climate reality.

The water is dropping. Your steel barges are stuck.

In recent summers, the Rhine at Kaub has dropped below 1.5 meters. For a standard 135-meter steel freighter, that means reducing cargo from 3,000 tons to just 500 tons. Your containers get left on the dock. Your clients wait. Your logistics chain breaks.

We designed ModuBarge to solve exactly this problem.

Meet ModuBarge – The shallow-water container feeder.

ModuBarge is a 55-meter, twin-hull catamaran designed to carry standard ISO shipping containers through Europe's shallowest rivers.

The hybrid build:

• HDPE hulls – Lightweight, abrasion-resistant, and virtually buoyant on their own. They slash the vessel's unladen weight by over 80% compared to steel.
• Aluminium deck and structural hardpoints – Strong, corrosion-resistant, and perfect for mounting engine beds, coupling frames, and container twist-locks.

The result: A full cargo load where others carry nothing.

Key advantages:

• Lightweight HDPE Hulls – High-density polyethylene floats on its own. Our robot-welded hulls weigh a fraction of steel, allowing you to carry 350+ tons of containers at a draft of just 1.15 meters.
• Aluminium Deck & Structure – We use aluminium for the deck and all high-load points (engine beds, coupling frames). This gives you the strength of metal where it matters, without the weight penalty of a full steel hull.
• Protected Inboard Diesels – Two 300HP engines mounted in recessed tunnels above the keel line. Your propellers stay safe when you scrape a sandbank.
• Modular & Truckable – We build in four 13.75-meter modules. We truck them to your nearest riverbank, bolt them together with a watertight O-ring seal, and launch your vessel in 24 hours. No dry-dock. No canal restrictions. Just instant freight capacity where you need it.
• Container-Ready Deck – The flat aluminium deck is fitted with standard ISO twist-locks. Load 14 x 20ft containers (or 7 x 40ft) in minutes using any standard harbor crane. Unload just as fast. No special equipment required.
• Dutch Robotic Precision – Our factory uses 60% automated robotic welding. Every HDPE seam, aluminium joint, and flange is cut and welded with microscopic precision. This is not a plastic toy – it is an industrial-grade workhorse.