Electric tug

ENERGISING NEW ZEALAND’S ELECTRIC TUG

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 seals if required

8 Echandia Marine will supply the energy

storage system for Auckland’s fully-electric tug

Credit: Damen

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

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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 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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Kotug International, Rotortug and tech start-up Captain AI have demonstrated the fi rst autonomous optimal route sailing using the training Rotortug RT Borkum.

While autonomous ships may seem a long way off for the shipping world in general with only the brave exploring the concept practically, it is the tug industry that has actual projects underway, this development being just the latest step along the road.

The demonstration was part of Smart Shipping event of the Netherlands Forum for Smart Shipping involving RT Borkum sailing autonomously (with a crew on board) from Boompjes by Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge along the Nieuwe Maas to the Uniport complex at Waalhaven.

In 2018 Kotug and Rotortug demonstrated GREENPORT

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TO SIGN UP FOR YOUR FREE TRIAL COPY visit greenport.com email subscriptions@greenport.com or call +44 1329 825 335 operating RT Borkum in Rotterdam from Marseilles remotely and this next stage involved a similar operation using the Captain AI route planner and autopilot which Vincent Wegener of Captain AI describes as: ‘... the Google Maps for waterways [where] it calculates the route, which the boat then autonomously sails, using our autopilot software.’

The route is defined as efficiently as possible by connecting Captain AI’s software

AUTONOMOUS TUG SAILING A STEP CLOSER

8 RT Borkum is becoming familiar with remote

and autonomous sailing trials

Credit: Peter Barker

to Kotug’s Optiport dispatch planning software enabling optimised route planning in real-time, based on AIS data and Artificial Intelligence. Linking the two is explained by Patrick Everts of Kotug: ‘The digital captain has to know what the vessel’s destination is and how to get there in the most efficient way ... not only making the skipper’s life easier because the vessels can autonomously navigate the optimal route, but also saving on fuel and CO2 emissions.’

Following earlier successful operational trials in Rotterdam the next step is to develop the partnership further to develop and commercialise the software including exploring matters including safety and legislation.

At recent towage industry conferences there has understandably been something of a gap between those promoting remote control and fully-autonomous technologies and end users who, while open to making economies, will be familiar with traditional ways of working that have served them well often stretching back many generations. Perhaps a halfway house of manned tugs operating autonomously for much of their operation will be an acceptable step forward allowing the gaining of experience, advances in technology and acceptance by the end users who are ultimately responsible for the safe outcome of the operation while maximising any

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