Barge tracking software for inland waterway operators who need the fleet in one picture
Inland waterway barge transport is the movement of bulk cargo on rivers and canals by unpowered barges pushed in a tow by a towing vessel. A standard dry cargo hopper runs roughly 195 feet by 35 feet and carries about 1,500 tons, and a towboat may push 15 or more at once through chambers measuring 600 feet by 110 feet. Neurobird holds barge position, commodity, status and the timestamps that freight and demurrage turn on.
Neurobird Barge Inland Waterway in short
- Track every barge by position, commodity, draft and status without calling the fleet
- Record the timestamps that freight and demurrage actually turn on
- Keep vessel certificates, survey dates and Subchapter M records visible from the office
- 136 to 144 Subchapter M, the Coast Guard towing vessel inspection regime, spans 46 CFR Parts 136 through 144 and sets certification, safety management and recordkeeping duties. eCFR, 46 CFR Subchapter M
- Part 136 Certification requirements, including the certificate of inspection every inspected towing vessel must carry and keep current. eCFR, 46 CFR Part 136
- Pricing runs 9 to 34 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
What barge line operators and inland towing companies actually deal with
Why it stays broken
The fleet is spread over hundreds of river miles and the record of it is a phone call. Marine software was built for blue water vessels carrying containers, not for 1,500 ton hoppers that get rebuilt into a new tow twice a week.
One barge logged at the wrong fleet is a 600 foot chamber booked for the wrong tow.
July 7, 2020 Inland and Intracoastal Waterways: Primer and Issues for Congress The federal government improves and maintains a system of 12,000 miles of inland and intracoastal waterways with over 200 lock and dam chambers.
Neurobird Barge Inland Waterway Audit Platform
Treat the barge as the unit of record, not the boat. Position, commodity, draft and status follow the hull no matter which tow it is in this week.
- 1Track every barge by position, commodity, draft and status without calling the fleet
- 2Record the timestamps that freight and demurrage actually turn on
- 3Keep vessel certificates, survey dates and Subchapter M records visible from the office
- 4Rebuild a tow on paper before the boat rebuilds it on the river
What changes with Neurobird Barge Inland Waterway?
The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.
| Today | With Neurobird Barge Inland Waterway |
|---|---|
| Barge location lives in a dispatcher's head, a phone call to the fleet, and a spreadsheet that is right until the tow is rebuilt | Track every barge by position, commodity, draft and status without calling the fleet |
| Demurrage and freight both depend on timestamps nobody records consistently: arrival, made into tow, delivered, released | Record the timestamps that freight and demurrage actually turn on |
| Subchapter M survey dates, certificates and vessel records sit in a binder on the boat rather than anywhere the office can see | Keep vessel certificates, survey dates and Subchapter M records visible from the office |
Who is this for?
Same river, three different operating models.
You run 1 boat and a handful of barges
You dispatch, you bill, you keep the vessel file. You need the 1,500 ton hopper and the survey date in the same place.
You move freight for shippers
Freight and demurrage both turn on timestamps. You need them recorded at the event, not remembered at month end.
You hold other people's barges
Hulls arrive, sit and leave under different accounts. You need a register that survives a tow being rebuilt.
How inland towing is actually regulated
Useful if you are entering the trade or preparing for a survey. Each source links out.
Subchapter M, the Coast Guard towing vessel inspection regime, spans 46 CFR Parts 136 through 144 and sets certification, safety management and recordkeeping duties.
eCFR, 46 CFR Subchapter MCertification requirements, including the certificate of inspection every inspected towing vessel must carry and keep current.
eCFR, 46 CFR Part 136Operations requirements: watchstanding, navigation safety and the vessel records a towing vessel has to produce on demand.
eCFR, 46 CFR Part 140Towing safety management system requirements, the alternative to annual Coast Guard inspection and the reason third party audits appear on the calendar.
eCFR, 46 CFR Part 138Navigation regulations for locks and dams on the inland system, including how lockages are ordered and how traffic is sequenced.
eCFR, 33 CFR Part 207How does Neurobird Barge Inland Waterway work?
Track the hull, not the tow
Every barge carries its own record: commodity, tons, draft, position and status. Tows are assembled from hulls, not the other way round.
Record the timestamps once
Arrival, loaded, made into tow, delivered and released are captured at the event, so freight and demurrage are calculated rather than reconstructed.
Keep the vessel file visible
Certificates of inspection, survey dates and Subchapter M records live where the office can see them, not in a binder 400 miles downriver.
The fleet, as your dispatcher would see it
A working preview. Tick a barge to move it through the movement cycle.
Tap an asset to log a scan and timestamp the inspection.
Barge inland waterway software questions, answered
Key terms
- What is inland waterway barge transport?
- Inland waterway barge transport is the movement of bulk cargo on rivers and canals by unpowered barges pushed in a tow by a towing vessel. A standard dry cargo hopper barge runs about 195 feet by 35 feet and carries roughly 1,500 tons, and a single towboat may push 15 or more of them at once.
- What is Subchapter M?
- Subchapter M is the Coast Guard inspection regime for towing vessels at 46 CFR Parts 136 through 144. It requires a certificate of inspection and either annual Coast Guard inspection or an approved towing safety management system audited by a third party, with vessel records kept current and available.
Why do locks matter so much to scheduling?
Because chamber size sets the shape of the day. A typical main chamber on the inland system is 600 feet by 110 feet, so a 15 barge tow has to be broken and double locked, and a queue at a single lock reorders every delivery behind it.
What timestamps actually drive money on a barge move?
Arrival at the loading dock, completion of loading, made into tow, arrival at destination, and release. Freight, demurrage and barge hire all key off those, and they are the ones most often recorded late or not at all.
Does this replace our accounting or ETA system?
No. It holds the operational truth: barge position, commodity, draft, status and timestamps. Whatever you use for invoicing reads from it rather than being retyped into.
Why we are building this
Inland towing moves enormous tonnage on very thin margins, and most of the operating record is verbal. Where a hull is, what is in it, when it arrived: all of that gets passed by radio and written on paper.
Subchapter M added a real compliance obligation on top of that, with certificates and survey dates and audits, and the answer for many operators was another binder.
We would rather build this with people who have stood a watch or worked a dispatch desk. Tell us how your fleet gets tracked, and where we have got it wrong.
Where the requirement comes from
The Coast Guard and navigation rules that govern inland towing.
- 46 CFR Subchapter M, towing vessels The full inspection regime for towing vessels, Parts 136 through 144, including certification and safety management.
- 46 CFR Part 140, operations Watchstanding, navigation safety and the vessel records that have to be current and producible.
- 33 CFR Part 207, navigation regulations How locks and dams on the inland system are operated and how lockages are sequenced.
- Federal Register, Coast Guard Where changes to towing vessel rules, waterway closures and safety zones are published.
How much does Neurobird Barge Inland Waterway cost?
Priced per barge under management because that is the unit of work. Unlimited users and unlimited tows on every tier.
- Barge register
- Position and status
- Commodity and tonnage
- Movement timestamps
- Email support
- Everything in Single fleet
- Tow building
- Demurrage clocks
- Vessel certificate file
- Named contact
- Everything in Line operator
- Lock queue planning
- Charter and hire tracking
- Accounting export
- Onboarding included
Get free early access
If you dispatch barges, tell us how you know where a hull is right now and what it costs when you are wrong.
Straight answer on where this is: In development. Early access gets the working preview, influence on what ships first, and early access pricing. It does not get you a login today.
Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.