GORINCHEM, Holland—Damen Shipyards Group has launched the world’s first fully electric tugboat with a 70-ton pulling capacity at its facility in Song Cam, Vietnam. The RSD-E Tug 2513 will have a total power of 3,800 kilowatts and a top speed of 12 knots when it enters service next year in New Zealand at the Port of Auckland.
The 81-foot-long boat, dubbed Sparky, will help the port achieve its goal of becoming a zero-emission facility by 2040.
Echandia Marine in Sweden supplied an E-LTO energy storage system (ESS), an air-cooled modular design based on Toshiba LTO battery cells. The 2.8-megawatt-hour ESS was optimized for the RSD-E Tug application.
Sparky is also equipped with two Kongsberg US255 L PM FP azimuth thrusters that feature permanent magnet electric motors. The state-of-the-art thrusters were assembled at Kongsberg’s maritime facility in Rauma, Finland.
The Damen shipyard has already built several other fully electric vessels, including dredgers and ferries.
Earlier this year, the world’s first all-electric tugboat, the Zeetug built by Navtek Naval Technologies Inc., entered service in Istanbul.