Belgium issued a single stamp on 23 February 2009 to honour the “river and canal barges”, the vessel depict on the stamp looks a tanker but the name on the bow is not readable.
The Belgium post did give the following information with the stamp:
Inland waterway shipping, the subject of the issue, can be defined as the art of moving a vehicle on a navigable channel, river or canal.
This art must be carried out with due observance for curtain rules, which are based on age-old shipping practices with highly specific characteristics.
A distinction is made between commercial shipping and pleasure boating.
Inland waterway shipping is the means of transport of the future; our waterways still have reserve capacity today. By absorbing part of the growth in road traffic, it could help improve mobility.
Inland waterways shipping are much cheaper than other forms of goods transports.
A 1.500 tonne interior waterway vessel can convey 90 TUE (20ft equivalent unit) containers in a single trip. That would require 70 trucks on the road. Shipping is also the most energy-economic form of transport, according the official estimates; it consumes much less energy than rail or road.
That makes it the most environmentally friendly form of transport as well as the cheapest.
Belgium 2009 1.18 Euro sg?, scott?