TUGS & TOWING
Echandia Marine and Damen Shipyards have announced a partnership to supply the energy storage system for Ports of Auckland’s fully-electric tug. A particularly significant tug delivery scheduled for late 2021 is Ports of Auckland’s fully-electric shiphandling tug. To be named Sparky it will be an RSD-E Tug 2513, one of Damen’s ‘next generation’ tugs based on the Tier III ready Reversed Stern Drive 2513 marque first introduced by Damen in 2018. Echandia Marine provides zero-emission energy systems for heavy industries including projects based on Toshiba’s Lithium-TitaniumOxide cells, Sweden-based Echandia Marine having worked with Damen previously including on five zero-emissions passenger ferries for operation in Copenhagen. The technical layout for the RSD-E Tug will of course be quite different to conventional diesel or diesel-electric arrangements and a
Credit: Damen
ENERGISING NEW ZEALAND’S ELECTRIC TUG
8 Echandia Marine will supply the energy storage system for Auckland’s fully-electric tug
close relationship between supplier of the various systems and components and the shipbuilder will be vital in ensuring the success of the project. Echandia’s solution will be based on its E-LTO energy storage system described as ‘a smart, highly scalable air-cooled modular design based on Toshiba LTO cells - widely considered the best heavy-duty cell chemistry on the market.’ The 2.8MWh energy storage system is specifically optimised for the RSD-E Tug application which will be required to produce a bollard pull of 70t and type-certified by
classification society Bureau Veritas. Echandia point out that with sustainability playing an increasingly important role in maritime strategy, shipyards recognise the need to accelerate the development of sustainable, environmentally-friendly solutions to ensure that they remain competitive. Ports of Auckland has set itself the goal of being zero-emissions by 2040, requiring a zero-emissions option for its tugs. When it looked into buying an electric tug in 2016 there was nothing on the market and turning to Damen who was developing hybrid tugs and had previously supplied an ASD 2411 tug was a natural potential solution. Mention must also be made here of the Turkish Zeetug all electric and rechargeable battery-powered tug, a development that this column will be returning to. Speaking about the Damen/Echandia partnership, Echandia’s CEO, Magnus Eriksson said: “The partnership is a powerful one. Damen’s understanding of and experience with the global tugboat market, combined with Echandia’s deep engineering and energy system expertise will result in a whole new market for electric tugboats and speed up the development of world-leading solutions.”
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