Dear all,
I must confess that every time I'm going to upload a photo of a "smaller" vessel I hestite were to place it: either coaster or gen.cargo.
Taking Lloyds register as the bible for description of ships, even those we consider as coasters are gen.cargo vessels. Coasters do not only sail along the coasts, but are also trading as deepsea vessels. There are surely a lot of members who have sailed on coasters for example across the Atlantic, via Suez- or Panama-canal to far away destinations.
On the other hand, none of us would consider MSC's
"MSC MEE MAY" (GT 16.660) as a coaster, while nowadays she is trading in coastal waters only (UK->Benelux->Germany v.v.).
As I see it, coasters can only be considered as such, if they are allowed by classification society/authorities to sail within coastal waters - otherwise they should be treated as (deepsea)gen.cargo vessels. As long as neither LR nor Equasis nor MaritmeData show any hint in this respect, shall keep on hesitating.
Appreciate your comments.