Transportation Vocabulary

Boat – a small vehicle for travelling on water.

Sentence – We paddled a little boat in the West Lake.

Lifeboat – a large boat that is kept ready to go out and save people who are in danger in the water.

Sentence – There was only room for ten people in the lifeboat.

Cargo Plane – A cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers.

Sentence – Meanwhile, a cargo plane carrying sensitive military weapons goes missing over Pakistan, and Vice President Keaton uses his military expertise to spearhead the situation.

Shipment – a large amount of goods sent together to a place, or the act of sending them.

Sentence – A shipment of urgent medical supplies is expected to arrive very soon.

Container Ship – a ship that is specially designed to transport containers (= large metal boxes containing goods).

Sentence – Container ship maximization has all brought enormous influence on the liner Ship Company and container port.

Ferry – a boat or ship for taking passengers and often vehicles across an area of water, especially as a regular service.

Sentence – The strike has led to the cancellation of some ferry services and left hundreds of passengers stranded at the docks.

Liner – a large ship for carrying passengers in great comfort on long journeys.

Sentence – Hundreds of small craft bobbed around the liner as it steamed into the harbour.

Canal Boat – a long, narrow boat that is used on a canal.

Sentence – When canal boats are taken out of the water for repairs they are winched sideways up a slipway.

Narrow boat – a canal boat less than 7 ft (2.1 metres) wide with a maximum length of 70 ft (21.3 metres) and steered with a tiller rather than a wheel.

Sentence – The wind howled dolefully, making the narrow boat sway and rock at her moorings.

Dinghy Sailing – a small, open boat powered by rowing (= using long poles with flat ends to push through the water), a motor, or sails, used for pleasure or for moving people to or from a ship.

Sentence – Having learnt the basics of dinghy sailing, the next stage for most people is to join a local sailing club.

Hovercraft – a vehicle that travels quickly just above the surface of water or land by producing a current of air under it to support it.

Sentence – The corporation has prepared a detailed indication of running costs for the new hovercraft.

Hydrofoil – a large boat that is able to travel quickly above the surface of the water on wing-like structures.

Sentence – There is the fast and comfortable jetfoil, the hydrofoil or the more leisurely ferry.

Sailboat – a small boat with sails.

Sentence – Jean is being carried toward Smuttynose on a sailboat piloted by her brother-in-law, Rich.

Paddle Steamer – a large boat that uses a paddle driven by steam to move through the water.

Sentence – A merchant marine captain, rescued from the Chinese Communists by local visitors, is “shanghaied” into transporting the whole village to Hong Kong on an ancient paddle steamer.