A barge without power unit and driven by tugboats is mainly used to transport goods (such as coal, yellow sand, oil, wood or grain); Sometimes it also carries passengers, usually towed by tugboats. Barges generally refer to non-self-propelled cargo ships, which can be towed by tugs or pushed by push boats after being used alone or in formation.

Barge specially used for transporting mud and sand. It is a supporting ship for dredgers, and is generally non-self-propelled. The middle section of the hull is a mud tank, and both sides are air buoyancy tanks. According to the difference between the mud tank and the way of unloading, there are: bottom-sealed mud barge, no mud door, and the mud is discharged by the cooperation of the dredger. Open the bottom mud barge. There are one or two rows of square mud hatches at the bottom of the cabin. Open the hatches to unload mud automatically. Open the mud barge at the side, open two rows of mud doors at the lower part of both sides, and set a triangular air chamber at the midshaft of the ship, which is suitable for dumping mud in shallow water.