Chile is preparing to welcome what’s reported to be Latin America’s first electric tug, which will be operated by harbour towage services provider SAAM Towage on behalf of state-owned petroleum company Empresa Nacional del Petróleo (ENAP).
Designed by Canadian naval architect Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) as part of its battery-fuelled ElectRA series, the tug was constructed by Turkish boatbuilder Sanmar. At the time of writing, the 25m x 13m newbuild had just been launched from Sanmar’s Istanbul facility and was about to commence sea trials, with handover to SAAM scheduled for the first half of 2025. Upon delivery, the vessel will provide berthing/unberthing services in Puerto Chacabuco, in Chile’s Aysén region.
The tug’s maximum bollard pull capacity exceeds 70 metric tonnes. Pablo Cáceres, SAAM Towage sustainability and development manager, comments: “This vessel is the third in our electric fleet. At Chacabuco, we will be reducing CO2 emissions by 100% compared to current operations.” RAL and Sanmar produced SAAM Towage’s previous pure-electric tugboats SAAM Volta and Chief Dan George, which were built to the specs of RAL’s ElectRA 2300SX class. These twins entered service at the Port of Vancouver earlier this year, each powered by 3,616kWh of Corvus Orca lithium-ion batteries and dual IMO Tier III-compliant, 940kWe Caterpillar C32 gensets (see Significant Small Ships of 2023 for more detailed info on these sisters).
In November, SAAM unveiled its ‘2030 Sustainability Strategy’, underlining its commitment to rolling out sustainable propulsion across 10% of its fleet by the end of the decade, while “neutralising 65% of greenhouse gas emissions through reduction and offsetting initiatives, with 2021 as a baseline.” SAAM estimates that by launching the Vancouver-based electric duo and undertaking other emissions reductions initiatives, it managed to slash its CO2 output by 5,000 metric tonnes this year.
