For an Inland DLC it's not that strange isn't it? barges. There were many requests for these type of vessels. Again not strange considering that a decent amount of players are professional captains/sailors of inland vessels. I second mastermax' statement.
I really need to work on how I phrase things... I wasn't complaining about the barge, I was complaining about both ships having azimuthing thrusters!
And it was never mentioned that Deo had an azimuth thruster. It uses a conventional propulsion system and does have a bow thruster.
The bridge view screen shot you posted shows an azipod controller above the throttle/telegraph...
I see barges sail by next to my school every day. Except some minor difference, the overall design is practically the same. Especially the size since these are fixed limit sizes within the regulations. A builder cannot simply say "let's build a 200 meter barge!"
Whilst I know there are restrictions regarding the size and shape of barges, and that there's only so much you can do to make each barge look "different", there are many other types of vessel which sail on inland waterways - some of which we don't have in game.
Would it not have been a better idea to add those instead? Dredgers, shoalbusters, inland cruise ships, They all differ greatly and non of them are in SSE. Even the ships we do have look completely different if you go to somewhere other than the EU (ex. The Mississippi pushboats, or the inland cargo vessels in the far east).