Page 50: of Marine News Magazine (November 2022)

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Great Vessels of 2022 utilized on the Spartan. It takes a certain amount of horse- considering maintenance requirements,” Jones said. power to propel the vessel through the water at required While Spartan is not ? tted with batteries as part of its transit speeds, and whether you do that with auxiliary gen- hybrid propulsion system, dedicated space and provisions erator engines or main engines, the fuel savings is really within the switchboard have been provided to allow for this negligent,” Jones said. “What really pushed us to make the in the future in case Seabulk ever decides to go that route.

decision to go with Hybrid is the opportunity to test bed Master Boat Builders’ Rice said he sees hybrid tugs as the the electrical propulsion systems and various battery solu- way of the future, at least for the short- to medium-term, tions. We believe battery integrated hybrid tugs will deliver and that the shipyard—which has been involved in both emissions bene? ts in the future.” hybrid and full-electric tug builds, including Crowley’s

There is also important operational savings on top of eWolf—has been positioning itself for a leading role as the the environmental bene? ts associated with the vessel’s hy- industry evolves. “We want to be known as the best go-to brid system and EPA Tier 4 main engines. “In eco mode tug builder in the U.S.,” Rice said. “The future of tugs is the vessel can transit to and from tug assist jobs without hybrid battery powered tugs over the next ? ve to 10 years. using the main engines. This saves service hours on main And I think we’re in a good spot for that.” engines, roughly 1,500 hours annually. Over the course From an operational standpoint, some of the Spartan of vessel’s service life, this equates to a large savings when crew members were initially hesitant about the new hy-

Seabulk 50 | MN November 2022