Harbor Tugs News

Jennifer Carpenter joined The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association representing the inland and coastal tugboat, towboat and barge industry, in August 1990 and became its president and CEO in January 2020. She highlights some of the greatest focus areas for the 80-year-old trade group—simultaneously looking at both the present day and the road ahead.The towboat, tug and barge industry is in a period of rapid evolution. How is AWO—now in its 80th year…

Dutch shipbuilding conglomerate Damen Shipyards Group announced it has signed a contract with BOA Group for two ASD Tugs 3010 ICE. Due to Damen’s practice of constructing vessels in series for stock, the tugs were already under construction at the time of order and will be delivered later this year.BOA’s fleet consists of specialized offshore vessels, semi-submersible barges and harbor tugs. The order for these two Damen tugs is a part of the Norwegian company’s strategic fleet…

A third electric-powered tug built by Sanmar Shipyards in Turkiye has arrived in Vancouver, Canada, to join HaiSea Marine’s fleet.HaiSea Brave will work in Vancouver alongside its sisters HaiSea Wamis and HaiSea Wee'git before all three – along with two Sanmar-built liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled tugs – are transferred to LNG Canada’s new export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia.Based on the ElectRA 2800 SX design by Canadian naval architects Robert Allan Ltd, HaiSea Brave…

Matt Hart, Manager & Platform Leader, Marine & Stationary Power Systems, Wabtec, offers insights on how the megatrends of decarbonization, energy transition and autonomy all inspire and impact the marine power solutions from Wabtec.Matt, to start us off, can you provide insight on the journey to your present position?I graduated from the University of Notre Dame with an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering and started with General Electric in the Edison Engineering Development rotational program at the Erie…

The first new LNG-fueled escort tug built by Sanmar Shipyards in Türkiye for HaiSea Marine has arrived in Vancouver, Canada, ahead of being transferred to LNG Canada’s new export facility in Kitimat.HaiSea Kermode is Canada’s first LNG-fueled tugboat and will soon be joined by its sister tug HaiSea Warrior to form a fleet of five with three Sanmar-built electric-powered emissions-free ElectRA harbor tugs. The two Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugboats are based on the RAstar 4000 DF design from Vancouver-based naval architects Robert Allan Ltd.At 40.2 m in length…

The November edition of Marine News magazine highlighted a selection of the most notable American newbuilds delivered of 2023—from a first-of-its-kind green towboat, to the lead vessel in a series of game-changing ships to train U.S. mariners.Empire StateAs the lead vessel in a series of five new training ships being constructed to serve America's state maritime academies, Empire State is easily one of the most important U.S.-built vessels delivered in recent memory.Built by Philly Shipyard for the U.S.

Wärtsilä announced it is teaming up with Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) to advance EBDG’s Clean Harbor Alternative Mobile Power (CHAMP) Barge design.This partnership introduces a cost-effective solution to reduce emissions from large vessels in situations where traditional shore power is not available and features Wärtsilä's dual fuel methanol engine technology, the partners said.The floating mobile platform offers a power range of 6 to 16 Megawatts, utilizing green methanol as its source.

The PSA Wayra ASD tug will soon enter service for PSA Marine Peru, a wholly owned subsidiary of PSA Marine (Pte) Ltd, as the first tug with a hybrid drive system on South America’s west coast. Hong Kong-based Cheoy Lee Shipyards has built the PSA Wayra on the RAmparts 2400W design from Robert Allan Ltd. The tug is propelled by SCHOTTEL RudderPropellers featuring patented SYDRIVE-M technology. This mechanical hybrid solution without the costly complexity of common hybrid technology reduces both the vessel’s maintenance costs and its fuel consumption.

Turkey's Sanmar Shipyards announced it has delivered a second electric-powered tug to HaiSea Marine in Canada.The newly built HaiSea Wee’git and its sister HaiSea Wamis, delivered earlier this year, will provide harbor and escort tugboat services to tankers calling at LNG Canada’s new export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia. A third electric tug, HaiSea Brave,  is scheduled to be delivered later this year.The 28.4-meter-long tugs are based on the exclusive-to-Sanmar ElectRA 2800SX design from Vancouver-headquartered naval architects, Robert Allan Ltd.

This week, Canada welcomed the arrival of the its first fully electric tugboat, HaiSea Wamis.Built by Sanmar Shipyards in Turkey, the vessel is the first in a series of three Robert Allan Ltd. designed ElectRA 2800 battery electric harbor tugs being constructed for HaiSea Marine, a joint venture partnership between the Haisla First Nation and Seaspan ULC.Together with HaiSea’s incoming dual-fuel (liquefied natural gas [LNG] and diesel) escort tugs, the fleet will make the voyage…

A grounding incident was avoided thanks to swift action by a team of harbor tugs and pilots aboard a Panamanian registered containership that lost power in Southampton, U.K., according to a local pilots group.At around 11 a.m. on January 26, the 20,000 TEU containership MOL Treasure departed the Port of Southampton bound for Le Harve, amid good, though gusty, weather conditions, with clear visibility and calm seas. But not more than an hour into the passage, the 400-meter-long MOL Treasure developed a significant reduction in engine power.An escort tug was already present…

Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) last week unveiled the design for a new barge engineered to offer power and charging to vessels in ports and harbors.Delivering 7 megawatts (MW) of continuous power generated by methanol, the 225-foot-long floating mobile platform is capable of cold ironing to minimize emissions from large vessels both at the pier and at anchor for up to two weeks before refueling.In addition, it offers double duty as an "in-field" DC charging station for electric harbor tugs and other smaller service vessels.

As the maritime industry continues along its emissions reduction journey, one company helping to lead the way is BAE Systems, a firm that’s been involved with electric and hybrid propulsion for over 25 years.“We’re all about helping maritime operators get to zero emissions, and it doesn’t matter if it’s all-electric, a hybrid application or even fuel cell. We have the technology to help operators achieve lower emissions and keep operating just as they’re used to with conventional based propulsion…

Marine News spoke to leaders at three North American naval architecture and marine engineering firms about some of the latest trends impacting their business today. Mike Fitzpatrick, president, Robert Allan Ltd.; Jeff Bowles, director, DLBA Naval Architects; and Rich Mueller, president and CEO, NETSCo., weigh in on topics such as digitalization, decarbonization and the naval architect talent pool.How do you view the maritime industry’s ongoing shifts in areas such as digitalization and decarbonization…

Sparky, a new all-electric ship handling tugboat, has been christened in Auckland, New Zealand.The RSD-E Tug 2513 was built at Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam for owner Ports of Auckland. Equipped with 2,784 kWh of batteries, the 70 tonne bollard pull harbor tug can undertake two or more assignments before being recharged—which takes about two hours—entirely emissions-free.In 2016, Ports of Auckland adopted the goal of becoming a zero emissions port by 2040, and its new tug Sparky is a key part of this green agenda…

German propulsion firm Schottel has secured an order to deliver a total of ten rudder propellers and two transverse thrusters for five tugs that will serve the LNG carriers stopping at an LNG export facility in Canada.Schottel's equipment will be installed on two LNG-fuelled escort tugs, as well as in three battery-powered harbor tugs. Ordered by Canadian HaiSea Marine, a partnership between the Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC, the vessels will provide ship assist and towing services to LNG carriers stopping at a new LNG export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia.

Jennifer Carpenter joined The American Waterways Operators (AWO), the national trade association representing the inland and coastal tugboat, towboat and barge industry, in August 1990 and became its president and CEO in January 2020. She weighs in some of the most important developments in the industry today, from “hugely exciting” opportunities in offshore wind , tech innovation and decarbonization, to labor and recruitment challenges.The recent Infrastructure bill is a huge boost for many industries…

For 20 years, I represented operators of OSVs, jack-ups, semi-submersibles, oil and gas production platforms, harbor tugs, towboats and barges in state and federal court personal injury litigation arising in the Gulf of Mexico, across the Great Lakes and on the inland waterways. For the last decade or so, I have been representing injured crew. In the case of a death or serious injury, sometimes there is little a vessel operator can do to prevent being sued. In my experience, though, many expensive lawsuits could have been avoided had the marine employer handled the situation differently.1.

The Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group is one of the industry’s largest and most recognized shipbuilders, perhaps best known for its standardized, serial production workboats. Now with several dozen newbuild and repair yards on the map, the company has produced more than 6,000 vessels over its 90-year history—from harbor tugs and offshore supply ships, to ferries and patrol craft. But Damen does not have a shipyard in the United States, and therefore doesn’t directly build vessels for the Jones Act market. Instead, it licenses its designs to U.S.

Rolls-Royce announced it has secured a contract to supply eight of its mtu 16V 4000 M65L engines for four 80-ton bollard pull tugboats to be built by Detroit Brasil, Ltda. and operated by Starnav Servicos Maritimos Ltda. The new tugs will feature a hybrid propulsion system, combining the mtu engines and mtu Blue Vision New Generation (BVNG) monitoring system with Z-drive thrusters, hybrid components and controls from Schottel, a manufacturer of propulsion and steering systems…

Eastland Group has taken delivery of two new harbor tugs, Maki and Ika Nui, for operations in Tairāwhiti (Gisborne), New Zealand.The 21.4-meter-long, 273 GT newbuilds are RAmparts 2100-CL tugs designed by Canada's Robert Allan Ltd. and constructed at Cheoy Lee Shipyards in China. Each vessel has a 11-meter beam (molded), 4.4-meter depth (least molded) and maximum navigational draft of 4.5 meters.The Maki (orca) and Ika Nui (big fish) names were announced in the summer of 2021 after suggestions from the public.

Alternatives to fossil fuels are emerging throughout the maritime universe, and vessels working in U.S. rivers, waterways and harbors are at the cusp on this trend. While the alternative fuels spectrum is wide, battery power and electrification—a technology that has seen a decade of shipboard applications already—is particularly suited for smaller vessels.Crowley Maritime Corp will be taking delivery of a completely electric tugboat, dubbed eWolf; the boat- which will include kit for advanced vessel control tied to an electric propulsion system from ABB…

Turkish shipbuilder Sanmar Shipyards announced it has inked a deal with HaiSea Marine for the build and delivery of three liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled escort tugs and two battery-electric harbor tugs which will provide ship-assist and escort towing services to LNG carriers calling at LNG Canada’s new export facility in Kitimat, B.C., on Canada's west coast.Following an initial tender process which began in 2018, HaiSea Marine has awarded the contract for all five tugs to Sanmar plus an option for a sixth.