A fifth electric-powered ‘Tug of the Future’ built by Sanmar Shipyards in Turkiye has now arrived in Vancouver, Canada, to join HaiSea Marine’s environmentally-friendly tugboat fleet.
Haisea Brave will work in Vancouver alongside its sisters Haisea Wamis and Haisea Wee’git before all three – along with two Sanmar-built LNG-fuelled tugs – are transferred to LNG Canada’s new export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia. Based on the exclusive-to-Sanmar ElectRA 2800 SX design by Canadian naval architect Robert Allan Ltd, HAISEA BRAVE, HAISEA WAMIS and HAISEA WEE’GIT measure 28.40m loa, with a 13.00m beam and 5.90m draught and have 6kWh of battery capacity. They can achieve 70t bollard pull and will perform all ship-berthing and unberthing missions on battery power alone.
HaiSea Marine is a joint venture majority owned by the Haisla Nation in partnership with Seaspan ULC, that will provide tug harbour and escort services in the extremely environmentally-sensitive region. With ample clean hydroelectric power available in Kitimat, the harbour tugs will be able to recharge from dedicated shore charging facilities at their berths between jobs, effectively resulting in zero emissions.
The electric tugs are exceptionally quiet, both onboard and in terms of underwater radiated noise, further enhancing the protection of both marine and wildlife in the area. HaiSea’s green tug fleet is expected to reduce emissions of CO2 by approximately 10,000t/yr compared to diesel powered alternatives, with major reductions of NOx, SOx, CO, and particulate matter.
Cem Seven, VC Sanmar Shipyards, said: “At Sanmar we are proud to be leading the way to a new sustainable environmentally-friendly era for the tug and towing industry based on low and no-emissions tugboats. We believe that this will be achieved through innovation, technological advance, and the use of alternative fuels. The ElectRA Series of harbour tugs are the first of a new generation of tugboats that will change our world.”
Image: ‘Haisea Brave’, fifth in Sanmar’s electric tug series (source: Sanmar Shipyards)
