Our home sweet home

B.C. is the perfect environment for leadership in sustainable tug design and operation

By Robert Allan Ltd.

There’s no place quite like home. Beautiful British Columbia. Our province, and especially our coasts are truly some of the most beautiful places on earth. It is a place we are incredibly fortunate to live, work, and play in.

As much as the business has become a beacon in the international world of tugboat design, B.C. is where it all began for us and where home remains. There’s a special feeling that takes over when spotting one of our tug designs at work in our local waters. It’s a feeling that goes beyond the satisfaction or even pride associated with seeing the fruits of one’s work in action with one’s own eyes. With such an amazing backdrop, it’s hard not to pause in admiration at the full scene, be it a coastal tug and its tow calmly transiting through some of our breathtaking island-dotted waters, or a newer generation ship-assist tug on its way home after a job in Vancouver harbour.

We love our home and cherish the beauty of its natural environment, but things need to change if we are to preserve those gorgeous snow-capped backdrops for future generations, not to mention the sustainability of what lives in our pristine waters and along our coasts. It’s easy to stay the course. Change can be uncomfortable. But change can also be very good when it’s done right, and leaders must emerge to drive that positive change. Someone must get the snowball rolling. Should it be any surprise then that B.C., where there is so much passion for our natural environment, is home to several companies who are leading the charge in the decarbonization of the world’s tugboat industry?

HaiSea Marine’s new fleet of ElectRA 2800 battery electric harbour tugs, and RAstar 4000-DF dual fuel LNG-powered escort tugs for the LNG Canada operation in Kitimat was difficult news to keep under wraps for as long as it was. The longest escort route in the world, ten thousand tonnes of carbon emissions potentially saved per year, the first tugs in the world to receive ABS’ prestigious ENVIRO+ notation, and a quieter underwater noise profile are all newsworthy stories to broadcast to the world, which has very much since taken notice. Having recently been named at a ceremony at Sanmar Shipyards in Turkey, HaiSea Wamis, Wee’git, Brave, Warrior, and Kermode will soon begin their delivery voyage to B.C. and will establish HaiSea Marine’s as the most environmentally friendly tug fleet in the world.

Further south in Vancouver, SAAM Towage Canada has two ElectRA 2300 battery electric tugs under construction, also at Sanmar. Deliberately smaller to enable them to seamlessly work between the Port of Vancouver’s finger piers, they deliver equally powerful bollard pull in a compact tug frame, with a battery capacity tuned to the operation and will be recharged from clean hydroelectric power at dock between jobs. With extremely impressive environmental credentials of their own, including the ability to operate in zero-emissions mode with a significantly reduced underwater noise profile, these tugs will leave no doubt that decarbonization is viable in major ports worldwide and that the time to act can be now.

Five battery electric tugs and two of the most powerful escort tugs in the world are about to begin their voyage to our waters. There is no comparison in the world in terms of numbers or capabilities, and these tugs will affirm B.C. as the world’s epicentre of low-emissions tugboat design and operation. We are incredibly proud to be at the leading edge of sustainable vessel design through technological progress for the benefit our cherished local environment. We are also tremendously grateful for the privilege of working with some of the world’s most visionary tug operators and highest quality shipyards in making shared dreams of a more sustainable tugboat industry into a local reality, and one which we are starting to see emulated by many others abroad. We all win from the positive change that will bring, and B.C.’s marine industry will be both an inspiration and a valued resource for all.

The most environmentally friendly tugs in the world in harmony with British Columbia’s precious environment and stunning backdrops shall almost certainly cause us to pause in admiration, but that feeling of pride is admittedly never fully satisfying; and now more than ever the important work is just beginning. In the meantime, we’ll settle for the satisfaction of knowing transformational positive change is already underway in our local waters. Ü