The most widespread term though was “Ordinari-Schiff”, which referred to the schedule: these barges departed ordinarily, i.e. regularly, for Vienna on a set day of the week and using precisely defined tariffs. The journey lasted 8 to 14 days depending on the water level. This “Ordinari Wiener Schiff” had a good reputation. A traveller from1769 explains why:

1.) As the ship tied up each evening, I was able to sleep
leisurely at night, which would not have been possible
on the mail coach.
2.) The risk was not great, as the Ulm bargemen are so
cautious that when they anticipate a risk they continue
on to the next landing or stop for whole days rather
than exposing themselves to some misfortune; as I have
experienced several times.

This tourist describes the design of the passenger barges as follows:

A small structure stands at the centre of the Ordinari-
Schiffe, which is thrown together from planks and covered
with planks. This small structure usually consists of two
rooms. The room at the front is used by travellers of some
distinction. In winter there is normally a small stove, which
is heated from outside. There is a small window on each
side of the room, so that the people can see out. Planks
are used all around the room to make seating. You find
the baggage of the persons who are travelling in the room
under these benches. If there is any space left, the bargemen
also store other packages here that cannot be exposed
to the rain or snow. The bargemen also use these benches
as a dining table during the day, where they eat what they
have cooked on the small stove, and as a place to sleep
at night. The common folk are housed in the back room.
It has neither stove nor window, nor many benches
though; but most of those within sit or lie about on the
boxes and packages that the bargemen have put inside.

That was exceptional though. The boats were normally used to move goods, the European dimension of which was described by German traveller Friedrich Nicolai in 1781:

The Danube is used predominantly for goods destined
for Bavaria and Austria, which are brought to Ulm by
waggoners from France via Strasbourg, from Italy via
Augsburg and for other onward transport. The house of
Kindervatter had the largest shipping company for goods
and monies, which came to Vienna from the Netherlands
on behalf of the Kaiser.

The cargo altered in line with changing needs. In 1571, for example, the Danube toll collector von Straubing recorded an annual income of 22,000 pails of wine, which came almost exclusively from Ulm. Other Containers held Ulm snails. Early popular cargoes included Ulm linen, goods made by the city’s woollen weavers, pear slices, dried fruit, beets, Neckar wine, Ulm playing cards and wafers. In the 19th century it was French wines, saplings, leather, dyes, flintstones, grass and clover seeds, wooden clocks and other “goods from Western Europe”, which found their way in this manner to Austria, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey. At the end, the main cargo consisted of asphalt for roadbuilding in the large Danube cities. This was supplemented by ploughs made by the Eberhardt brothers, as well as cartgrease, salted intestines and furniture springs. The destinations at that time, sorted according to the weight of the cargo to be delivered there: Budapest, Vienna, Passau, Regensburg, Straubing, Linz, Vilshofen, Ingolstadt, Neustadtand Deggendorf. In contrast, upstream shipping along the Danube was never very significant. Ultimately, the barges that came from Bavaria to Ulm – and were known, therefore, as “Bayerschiffe”or “Hohenauer” – had to be pulled by ten to twelve horses. Around 1825 they brought Hungarian copper, tobaccoleaves, wine, yarn from Linz, horsehair from Bavaria, pigbristles from Poland and Russia, Bohemian mushrooms, mercury and crucibles from Passau.