On November 20, the world’s largest 5,400 HP pure electric tugboat, developed and designed by Marine Design & Research Institute of China (MARIC), with key core systems provided by the CSSC 712 R&D Institute, was delivered to Lianyungang Port. The official launching of “Yungang Electric Tractor No. 2” marks that the domestic pure electric tugboat has formally entered the application and promotion stage.
“Yungang Electric Tug No.2 is built by Lianyungang Hongyun Industry Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of Lianyungang Port Holding Group Co. The vessel is designed with an overall length of 39 meters, a beam of 10.5 meters, a depth of 4.8 meters, a maximum speed of more than 13 knots, a bollard towing force (positive towing) of more than 65 tons, a quick charging of the dock for 2 hours to be fully charged, and the capacity of the power batteries to meet the needs of 1 day’s work, with zero emission, no pollution, low noise, low energy consumption and other performance advantages. The vessel will be mainly used to assist large vessels to dock away from the wharf in Lianyungang waters, and can carry out operations such as jacking, towing and backward towing.
In August 2022, MARIC and Lianyungang Hongyun Industry Co., Ltd. formally signed a design contract for a 5,400 HP purely electric harbor tug, which is a renewed cooperation since the successful delivery of “Yungang Electric Tug No. 1”.
It is understood that the MARIC has conducted many on-site research, mapping, accessed a large number of domestic and foreign tugboat ship type information, and combined with the actual operational needs of Lianyungang port, tailor-made the type of economic, practical, efficient and innovative ships.
In order to improve the safety, stability and comfort of the tugboat, the relevant partners optimized the design of the main scale of the ship, which increases the ship stability without affecting the resistance and maneuvering; and optimized the arrangement of cabin equipment, improved the layout of the cabin, and solved the problems of insufficient space for equipment arrangement and unreasonable layout. At the same time, the mast adopts lightweight design, taking into account the signal interference problem of the conduction equipment arrangement, and reduces the height of the mast, which reduces the weight and makes the overall appearance of the mast more beautiful and the stability of the ship higher.
Apart from that, the appearance of battery equipment, cable laying path, ventilation system, cooling system, ship noise reduction, signal interface and other aspects have also been optimized, so that “Yungang Electric Tractor No.2” is designed to be a better ship and become a green ship, energy-saving ship and high-quality ship carefully built by China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).
Green Boat: Safe and Environmentally Friendly
The performance indexes of this tug are in the leading position in China. In the main power system, the conventional diesel engine set is replaced by lithium iron phosphate power battery pack as the main propulsion power, and the whole ship is designed with multiple battery packs for mutual back-up, which is equivalent to the conventional tug configured with multiple diesel engine packs, and the noise is greatly reduced, and it can completely achieve the operation of “zero-emission” to satisfy China’s emission control area for coastal and harbor navigation and berthing. It meets the emission requirements for coastal and harbor navigation and berthing in China’s emission control area. In terms of safety, compared with the flammability and explosiveness of diesel, liquefied petroleum gas and other fuels, purely electric vessels have a high safety factor and no operational risk.
Fuel-efficient ships: low operating costs
Measured in accordance with the current average utilization rate, fuel consumption and other aspects of tugboats, although the cost of pure electric tugboats is higher than conventional diesel tugboats, but an electric tugboat can save energy consumption of about 300 tons per year. When analyzing the benefits from the whole life cycle, when the service life of the pure electric tugboat is 30 years, it can basically save the cost of a conventional tugboat, and the economy is very considerable. Moreover, the tug is working at low load most of the time during operation, and the battery can be powered according to the actual electricity load, which reduces the operation cost and avoids the drawbacks of low efficiency and high fuel consumption rate when the diesel engine is directly propelled. In terms of charging mode and device, it can adopt two modes of fast charging and slow charging, fast charging can be full in 2 hours, and slow charging can be full in 6-8 hours. Meanwhile, fast charging can be realized by using the high-voltage shore power technology pioneered by Lianyungang Port, and the two can be perfectly compatible.
Boutique Ship: Innovative Ship Development
MARIC has developed and designed LNG-powered ultra-large container ships, electric tugboats, LNG-powered dredgers, environmentally friendly bulk carriers, oil tankers and other vessels, and it was the first to introduce new energy into the engineering ship projects in China, which has helped the shipowners and shipyards to realize good economic and social benefits.
It is worth mentioning that the ship’s high-performance DC power distribution and electric propulsion system and core equipment with independent intellectual property rights are provided by 712 R&D Institute, which mainly include high-security lithium battery system, 2 MW high-efficiency vertical hollow shaft permanent magnet motor, new generation of high-performance DC power distribution center, automation system as well as remote operation and maintenance system, etc. The ship has a capacity of nearly 8,000 kWh of lithium battery. The ship’s lithium battery capacity is nearly 8,000 kWh, and the total battery capacity exceeds the total capacity of 200 electric cars. It is estimated that compared with conventional tugboats, the vessel can save about 400 tons of fuel and reduce carbon oxides about 1,200 tons per year.
The delivery and operation of “Lianyungang Electric Tugboat No. 2” aims to provide a solution for the implementation of the “dual carbon policy” in the tugboat industry, and to add new momentum to the construction of the related smart port and green port. According to the plan of Lianyungang Port, the number of pure electric tugboats in the port area will reach 4 in 2024.