Damen Shipyards and Echandia have teamed up to develop the first fully-electric ship-handling tug in the world. The tug is planned to service New Zealand’s largest container terminal, the Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL).
The new strategic partnership sees Damen combine its industry-leading experience in tugs with Echandia’s expertise in E-LTO energy and battery systems. The RSD-E Tug 2513 will be a zero-emissions derivation of the IMO Tier III-ready RSD Tug 2513, introduced by Damen in 2018.
The Echandia-Damen partnership brings together sophisticated battery technology and deep skills in the shipyard industry with technology strategy and development to bring the next generation of electric tugboats to the global market.
“The Damen-Echandia 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. With over 30 shipyards and related companies worldwide, Damen has a global presence that will allow us to drive far more business impact for our end-users”, comments Echandia’s CEO Magnus Eriksson.
Echandia
Echandia’s E-LTO energy storage system (ESS) is a smart, highly scalable air-cooled modular design system based on Toshiba LTO cells, which according to the company are widely considered the best heavy-duty cell chemistry on the market. The 2.8 MWh ESS is specifically optimised for the RSD-E Tug application and will be type-certified by Bureau Veritas.
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, the partners state.
