Johanna is a former working barge (péniche) of Freycinet dimensions, after the French minister of transport Charles de Freycinet who gave his name to an Act of Parliament in 1879, establishing a standard for French canals: they were to accommodate barges of 38.50 by 5.05m, carrying 250 tonnes to a draught of 1.80m.

[1] Johanna is one of around 60 hotel barges[2] offering cruises on European waterways, most of them in France.

The barge was built in 1966 at the De Durme boatyard in Tielrode, Belgium (build number 365).

The owner ceased trading and shortened the barge to 32m in 1993, living aboard in Ham (Kwaadmechelen).

[3] The barge winters in Bruges, Belgium, while offering B&B, and relocates south each spring to cruise on the river Marne (Champagne region) and in the Upper Loire Valley (Canal lateral à la Loire).