Amid the global push for decarbonization in the shipping industry, China is accelerating the deployment of new and clean energy vessels, leveraging the advantage of possessing the world’s largest inland waterway fleet. This study conducts a systematic analysis of the current status of the green transition in China’s inland shipping sector and preliminarily establishes a diversified technological roadmap for the application of new and clean energy in inland vessels. Several challenges persist, including the lack of standardized technical pathways, insufficient supporting infrastructure, limited breakthroughs in core technologies, and the absence of a mature industrial ecosystem. In response, this paper proposes targeted suggestions, emphasizing the need to construct an integrated “ship-port-energy” ecosystem. Such an approach aims to enhance the synergy between transportation and energy systems, thereby facilitating the realization of zero-carbon development in inland waterway shipping.