| Tug and towage trends in 2022 | |||
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30 Dec 2021by Martyn Wingrove Five key trends that will impact tug design, construction and operation of towage services in 2022
Top of the agenda for the tug operating and towage industry is tackling the rising challenge of cutting emissions, with owners coming under increasing pressure from authorities and port operators to reduce emissions without affecting safety and performance. Early adopters see this as an opportunity to invest in low-emissions tugs to gain further business from environmentally conscientious shipowners. Some tug owners have invested in digitalisation technologies to remotely monitor operations and improve fleet management. A select few have tested technologies for remote operations to improve safety and gain experience from semi-autonomous operations. Biofuels as a short-term fuel alternative As tug owners look to reduce emissions from their fleets, a short-term alternative to diesel is using biofuels, which can be used for four-stroke, medium- and high-speed engines on tugs. Owners are taking this initiative, undertaking quick retrofits to enable them to adopt these fuels. In the UK, Svitzer is converting its fleet of harbour tugs in London and Medway ports to operate on biofuels as part of its drive to become carbon neutral. This AP Moller-Maersk subsidiary is using fuel derived from waste cooking oil on 10 tugs supporting ships berthing and undocking at container and LNG terminals along the Thames and in north Kent. These tugs were converted to run on carbon-neutral hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuel instead of marine fuel oil. By using HVO, Svitzer offers Ecotow to its customers in London and Medway. It is also offering Ecotow to global customers, giving them the opportunity to inset fossil-fuelled towage elsewhere in their value chain. Svitzer said Ecotow could unlock a 90% CO2 reduction in Scope 3 emissions from its towage operations. This is a viable solution for the rest of the maritime industry to use in its drive to reduce emissions. Tugs are already operating with almost zero sulphur emissions. Tugs built from 2021 for operating in emission control areas will have propulsion compliant with IMO Tier III or US Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 4 emissions requirements, vastly removing NOx and particulate matter from engine emissions. But even these higher requirements do not tackle the long-term issue of cutting greenhouse gases from tug emissions. Alternative fuels for the long term Biofuels are short-term measures for reducing air pollution, but there is a limited supply of sustainable resources before demand outstrips supply. For the long term, tug owners need to test and adopt alternative fuels, preferable those already available and tested. Port of Antwerp is a leader in investing in and testing alternative fuels for towage operations as it seeks to become a bunkering hub. It is involved in the EU-funded Fastwater project to retrofit three port service vessels to use methanol. It is also a partner in the Hydrotug project with CMB.Tech and Anglo Belgian Corp, to develop a hydrogen-fuelled harbour tug. These are set to enter service in 2022. In the US, a consortium of companies is designing the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell and battery-powered inland towboat in the US. This will use methanol as the hydrogen carrier due to its easy onboard storage and adequate sourcing. Maritime Partners has signed a memorandum of understanding with ABB, Elliott Bay Design Group and e1 Marine to develop a methanol- and battery-powered towboat for inland operations in the US. In Japan, NYK will test one of the world’s first ammonia-powered tugboats, with partners classification society ClassNK and IHI Power Systems. This project will progress to a construction phase in 2022 ready for testing after completion. LNG continues to be a viable and readily available option. It has been selected mainly where tugs assist gas carriers into LNG export terminals. Sanmar has received contracts to build three escort tugs powered by LNG for a production and export terminal in British Columbia, Canada. HaiSea Marine, a partnership between the Haisla Nation and Vancouver-based Seaspan ULC will operate a fleet of harbour and escort tugs with green propulsion at the Kitimat terminal. Escort tugs for this project will be built to Robert Allan Ltd’s RAstar 4000 DF design and with dual-fuel engines and LNG storage. In 2022, there will be more tug newbuilding projects involving LNG and other alternative fuels for delivery in 2023 and beyond. Electric-powered tugboat fleets are being built Instead of investing in alternative fuels or biofuels, more owners are selecting an electrical route to decarbonisation with electric motors for hybrid propulsion and batteries for energy storage. Gisas Shipbuilding has recognised this trend and started operating the world’s first all-electric harbour tug. Gisas Power was designed by Navtek Naval Technologies and built by TK Tuzla Shipyard in Turkey. This 18.7-m, Zeetug30-design tug won International Tug & Salvage’s Tug of the Year Award in 2021 at the inaugural TUGTECHNOLOGY conference and exhibition. Next up is Damen-designed reverse stern drive tug Sparky, which was mobilised from Damen’s Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam to New Zealand’s Port of Auckland in Q4 2021. Both projects have encouraged the builders to start constructing more of these electric-powered tugs, with Gisas Shipbuilding building electric tugs in 2022 at a new Navtek shipyard in Tuzla, near Istanbul. Damen is working on battery-powered tugs for its own stock to sell to owners in 2022. Sanmar is also building electric-powered tugs for HaiSea Marine to operate in the Kitimat LNG export terminal in British Columbia. It has acquired a new shipyard in Turkey to build RAL’s ElectRA design tugs. These ElectRA 2800 tugs will have 70 tonnes of bollard pull mainly coming from Corvus Energy batteries. In the US, Master Boat Builders’ is building a battery-powered 25-m tug for operations in the Port of San Diego in mid-2023. eWolf is designed by Crowley Engineering Services and will be operated by Crowley Marine. With all this activity, the industry will be going from a standing start of one electric-powered tug in Q3 2021 to a potential fleet of 10 in Q4 2022. Remote control tugs go from test to operation There is a growing trend to develop and test remote control and autonomous vessel technology on tugs and other workboats. This industry drive started in 2017, and has accelerated in the last four years with consortia – including owners, class and automation system providers – challenging each other to remotely control tugs from shore. Some have gone further and trialled autonomous navigation and deck machinery technology in ports. Owners recognise the potential benefits from these trials and will be taking them further into tug operations. In Singapore, Keppel Smit Towage, currently being acquired by Rimorchiatori Mediterranei, conducted more tests in 2021 for remotely operating a tug using Keppel Offshore & Marine and ABB technology and ABS verification. For this, it was shortlisted for ITS’ Innovation of the Year Award 2021. It follows successful trials in 2019 and 2020 by PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH), ST Engineering, Wärtsilä and PSA Marine. In Europe, Multraship successfully trialled remote control and autonomous vessel operations on a harbour tug in the FernSAMS joint research project. It worked with Novatug, Voith and MacGregor to remotely control 2018-built Carrousel RAVE tug Multratug 32 in October 2021 in the Netherlands. Kotug International also passed a new milestone in autonomous vessel navigation in September 2020 with a successful demonstration using a training harbour tug. Sea Machines Robotics went far further to demonstrate its technology on Damen-built Nellie Bly, as it sailed around Denmark while being controlled by mariners based in Boston, US. Although its 1,200 nautical miles was changed due to adverse weather conditions, the SM300 autonomous system was thoroughly tested. Revision will rejuvenate LOF use in salvage For at least five years there has been a decline in the use of Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) contract for ship salvage and emergency response. But this downward trend will be turned around in 2022 as shipowners and insurers gain a better understanding of its benefits. Insurance mainstay Lloyd’s shocked the industry in Q2 2021 when it announced its intention to close its salvage arbitration branch (LSAB), which oversees LOF and negotiations between parties. This brought a strong reaction across the shipping and insurance sectors and industrywide support for LSAB and LOF. This led to Lloyd’s starting a review into LOF with the intention to introduce amendments to make it more attractive for salvage contracts. LOF enables a rapid response to distressed ships requiring salvage to prevent loss of life and damage to marine environments and assets. Other contracts tend to slow salvage down, risking greater damage, while in many cases reducing costs to insurers. A workshop was held on 8 December 2021 to review LOF and provide ideas for its amendment to encourage its greater use. This process continues into 2022 with wider industry consultation and could lead to proposed amendments being implemented. What could be a real-life example of the phase and music lyric ’you don’t know what you got, till it’s gone’, could revitalise the shipping companies and insurers to return to using LOF for maritime emergencies. This would be music to the ears of salvors who have lobbied the industry to use LOF and enable them to reinvest the profits into their fleet, equipment renewal and crew training. Original LINK Riviera - News Content Hub - Tug and towage trends in 2022 (rivieramm.com)
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