Page 28: of Marine News Magazine (March 2022)

27 29

Feature

Pushboats, Tugs, Barges

Crowley “For other e-tugs to be built, we really need to change the way the market is looking at this. As environmental regulations are put in place, the industry needs the ability to adapt to meet those regulations, as we are doing in San Diego.” – Coulston Van Gundy,

VP, engineering services, Crowley transition from diesel to methanol or ammonia as offshore wind and batteries. “For transport fuels,” he or modular battery systems. commented, “you mostly see feasibility projects. We need 3. Longer term – a future point when alt-fuels and more public sector investment support with fuels and related systems are standardized and meet all availability and electricity and bunkering infrastructure. related requirements for vessel safety and operations. The private sector will then be in a better position to mo- “We need to be working now, with urgency, in all three bilize with ? nancing.” areas,” Cummins commented. 2030 to 2050 are popularly With eWolf, cost and ? nancing details have not been viewed as the expected window for engine/fuel transitions. disclosed. As a private company, Crowley does not disclose

Cummins said a more realistic timeline is one that aligns speci? c ? nancial information. The eWolf’s public partners with “whatever technology and economics can support.” include the San Diego County Air Pollution Control Dis-

Cummins said that projects such as Crowley’s eWolf trict, the California Air Resources Board, the Port of San (as noted above, Crowley is a founding member of the Diego, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the

Blue Sky Coalition) provide key learnings, informing en- U.S. Maritime Administration.

gineers about what’s viable and what’s not. Tech advances The 82-foot eWolf, the ? rst U.S. all-electric harbor tug will make costs more competitive, reducing the need for is expected to be ready in mid-2023. Its electric design will subsidies. Cummins noted that taxpayer and ratepayer provide full performance capabilities—and zero carbon subsidies now are heavily tilted towards generation, such emissions—with an expected 70-ton bollard pull strength.

28 | MN March 2022