Page 30: of Marine News Magazine (March 2025)

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Feature

SVITZER then we have the next one which is the one with the dual- fuel methanol engines also. So, we are de? nitely embark- ing on the electri? cation journey and we are convinced that that’s the part of the end game.”

Karlsen admits, “It is very challenging. I would be lying if I said that it was easy getting our customers and their customers to pay a premium for green towage. But I’m also con? dent that we can move the needle further. Obviously, there are areas in our operations where it’s less mature and in other areas where it’s more mature. But just by the mere fact that we have around 450 vessels where many will be operating way beyond the target deadlines that we set, we will rely heavily on drop-in fuels to reach those targets and we rely heavily on ? nding commercial solutions to fund this, bearing in mind that green towage will assist our cus- tomers in decreasing their emissions in their value chain – their scope 3 emissions. We are also welcoming the right regulations helping the transition on the way.”

The Hour of Power: at Svitzer, ICE aren’t going away

If “decarbonization” has been the buzzword for marine vessels – whether it be blue or brown water – the next biggest thing has been the rapid advancement of battery technology.

Lighter units, more payload (kW per battery), smaller pack- ages packing more punch, all leading to the totally electric tugboat. That’s what naval architects are telling us.

That advice ? ies in the face of the time-honored maxim of “the hour of power,” or, more simply put, that very short period of time where a tugboat is required to exert maxi- mum bollard pull. Conventional wisdom held that this peak load solution. You can then choose to run the com- required a diesel engine to achieve that dependable, maxi- bustion engine on biodiesel. mum power. MarineNews asked the COO of the world’s “But right now, fully electric is not a solution that’s vi- largest and most far-? ung tugboat operator: Do you pro- able for tugs in my mind. It will always be a hybrid where vide service to your harbor clients using completely electric you can boost for peak, you can make sure that you can towboats? And, the answer was a resounding “no.” get home, and also for the ones where you have ? re? ghting

Karlsen says simply, “No, we don’t. And, with the bat- equipment on board, then you can run your ? re? ghting tery technology we have right now, this is not a likely sce- pump on the diesel combustion engine.” nario. That is also why when we say that we build battery We pressed Karlsen. Never? He paused, responding, electric tugs – and even some yards even call them full elec- “Someday maybe, right? Because the technology is going tric – it’ll always for us be a hybrid of some sort. And then, so, so fast. You never know and for the right applications, you dimension your battery according to your operating for a small harbor tug, then I would not say that it can pro? le. But you always have to have a combustion engine never happen, but right now we are not looking at a tug- such that you can say (a.) take me home or (b.) take me to boat with only a battery solution. We simply don’t see that 30 | MN March 2025