The paper presents the evolutions of inland vessel fleets of the two major European inland waterway systems: Western Europe and the Danube region waterway networks. The analysis covers over 140 years in case of the Western European fleet, and 60 years in case of the Danube fleet. In Western Europe there is a clear tendency towards larger and more power-demanding vessels, with tanker and cruise shipping as the leading segments in the twentyfirst century. While the total cargo capacity of newbuilt ships in Western Europe kept on increasing (with several prominent peaks in shipbuilding output), the production of small cargo ships shrunk. On the other hand, the consistent growth of the Danube fleet was interrupted by a series of political and economic shocks which took place during the 1990s. Since then, most of the fleet segments on the Danube declined or stagnated, except for the passenger shipping. In context of the present challenges for inland vessel fleets (climate resilience, modal split, decarbonization, etc.) the paper indicates the fleet segments whose adaptation to the market conditions should be prioritized in order to strengthen the position of inland navigation in Europe.