The Alvin was a River/Sea type ship originally built as Volgo-Balt 189:
There are many of these vessels, built during Soviet times, that is still in operation under different flags and in different trades.
The Volgo-Balt 214 broke in two in a very similar situation in Jan. 2019:
http://www.sur.ru/en/news/2019-01-10/volgo-balt_214_tragedy_is_a_face_of_shipping_in_the_black_sea_17255/
âIn this video, we see how the lives of seafarers are played with by going through surveys even though the sheet metal of a 46-year-old ship has reached the breaking point. Just as it was certain that the MV Bilal Bal ship would sink four years ago, it was certain that the MV Arvin would sink,â said the Turkish maritime union Platform of the Sea Workers.
A port state control inspection in Georgia last year found extensive deficiencies on board the Arvin, including deck corrosion and ill-maintained weathertight hatches, according to her Equasis record.
The m/v Lady Sandra mentioned by @Urs had a length of 90 meters and a beam of 10 meters. A large L/B ratio will decrease fuel consumption (engine power) for same speed (good), however it will decrease stability and manoeuvrability (bad). It will also decrease the dynamic stability as deck immersion will be faster (bad).
The m/v Arvin had a very small freeboard, therefore the Depth is also small. Depth of the hull at midships gives an idea of the freeboard as well as an indication of the hull strength in bending. Sailing on a river wave bending is not so much an issue, at sea it is. One can only wonder how it is possible that the ship, with that lifetime of 46 years, didnât break earlier.
Early on, as a teenager sailing ab/tankerman watched loaded barges built for the rivers flex in bay weather transport. Thought my eyes were fooling me. Asked the very seasoned captain, âIs this normal?â He said yes. Many years later watched ATBâs do similar motions in heavy weather. They were built rather stout, not like this rig. Bend, but didnât break. Loved my job, but retirement was welcome.
In some cases at least the dimensions of these vessels is controlled by locks and air draft limits.
This particular ship also has a low house to clear canal / river bridges.
True. A strong local example is the rather large fleet of inland waterway ships called Kempenaar. The Kempenaar is a cargo ship specially built to navigate the narrow and relatively shallow channels in the Southern Netherlands and Northeastern Belgium. The dimensions of this type of inland vessel are adapted to these channels, especially in view of the small dimensions of the locks: length approximately 50 m, width 6.60 m and loading capacity 600 t.
Sea/River Ships are not the same as the inland ships used on European rivers and canals. They are classed for open water navigation and are frequently seen around the North Sea. Baltics, the White Sea.
Lots are seen along the Norwegian coast, carrying sawn timber from Arkhangelsk and White Sea ports, bound for European and UK ports. .
Older Sea/River ships purchased from EU are also used in the sand and gravel trade on the coast.
This may be both Dutch ships and Volga and Amure type Sea/River Russian ships.
There are many operated by reputable EU shipping companies and built at Dutch and German yards:
The video taken of the ship breaking up will be quite helpful to incident investigators (if the incident is even investigated), it makes you wonder why âdash camsâ on ships arenât more common or even made mandatory.
Especially on passengers ships where the cargo is people, you would think it would be a requirement to have cameras all around the bridge recording what is going on linked to a tamper proof VDR. With Elon Muskâs Starlink predicted to bring cheap high speed internet the footage could be live-streamed ashore to prevent any âaccidentalâ damage to hard drives corrupting the footage.
In some countries having a dash cam in you car gets you cheaper car insurance, perhaps it might become the same for ships, if there are cameras recording what is happening then insurers might reduce premiums incentivizing ship owners to fit them.
Cruise ships at least have cameras that cover every cubic inch and the very high resolution images are stored securely. Even the captain cannot remove it, it is stored in a dedicated security room with very limited access.
Maybe one of the members with more cruise ship experience can enlarge on that topic.
Pretty sure I loaded the Arvin in one of her previous lives when still under Russian Flag. This class was of three hold design with no 2 hold shorter than the others. She and her sisters were regular visitors to the UK. They had a restriction on class and were not permitted to sail more than 100 miles from safe haven. This meant that if they loaded in West of Scotland for a Baltic port they had to sail coastwise south and then through English Channel instead of north and across North Sea. They didnât look in the best of condition in the two thousand noughties so doubt they have improved since.
Thanks for clarifying, I actually didnât realize 
I ran across one of these, almost literally, since I realized way too late that the funky looking accommodation barge was in fact no such thing. This is the Volgo-Balt 250 basking in its natural habitat:
The MOL Comfort investigation team issued the following safety measures which can be applied by the crew to detect timely dangerous hull stress situations.
Safety Measures
Based on the preliminary findings noted above, the ClassNK Casualty Investigation Team has proposed the following safety measures be carried out on large containerships in order to prevent the occurrence of similar casualties.
It is recommended that crew inspect the midship section to the extent possible in order to determine whether deformations have occurred on the bottom shell plates. At the request of shipowners, ClassNK will dispatch qualified surveyors to attend such inspections free of charge.
If consecutive deformations in the transverse direction are observed on the bottom shell plates a survey is recommended. ClassNK will dispatch qualified surveyors upon request.
Another Volgo Balt ship sinks in the Black Sea.
Video: Another Volgo-Balt Freighter Sinks, Leaving Two Dead.
While this Sea/River ship ride out a storm in the southern North Sea:
Another Sea/River ship in her river mode:
IIRC with that one the ship was made for the Black sea and this old hunk was in the Med.
The double bottom was corroded and a hidden crack developed and the fwd end with with two holds dropped off. Crew/master negligence! The Master forgot to inspect the double bottom prior departure.
You are right, they probably forgot to put it on the Bridge Departure Checklist:
12} Check the state of your bottom before you let go.
