LNG Canada Unveils Tug Designs
LNG Canada, in a March 24 post on its website, unveiled the design of two tugs that will be built and operated by a joint venture majority-owned by the Haisla Nation, on whose traditional territory the 14mn mt/yr liquefaction terminal will be built.
In the summer of 2019, the Haisla Nation joined with BC marine services provider Seaspan to create the HaiSea Marine joint venture, which was then awarded a 12-year, C$500mn (US$397.4mn) contract to design, build and operate escort and harbour tug services to LNG Canada.
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
HaiSea Marine engaged Vancouver naval architect Robert Allan Ltd to design the tugs: the battery-driven ElectRA 2800 harbour tug and the natural gas fuelled RAstar 4000 DF ship-assist tug (banner photo, courtesy LNG Canada), which will escort LNG tankers through Douglas Channel and Kitimat Harbour to the LNG Canada jetty.
“As majority owner of HaiSea Marine, we’re excited about the opportunities Haisla members will have working locally in the marine industry,” says Crystal Smith, chief councillor of the Haisla Nation. “It’s extremely important to us that aside from being one of the most powerful tug fleets on the west coast, it will also be one of the greenest ever assembled, anywhere.”
At 28 m in length, with approximately 70 tonnes-force (mt-force) bollard pull and 5,240 kWh of battery capacity each, the first-of-class ElectRA 2800 battery-electric harbour tugs will perform the majority of their ship-berthing and unberthing missions on battery power. Bollard pull is primarily used for measuring the strength of tugboats, with most commercial harbour tugs having around 60 to 65 mt-force of bollard pull.
Drawing on clean hydroelectric energy, the harbour tugs will recharge from dedicated shore charging facilities at their berths between jobs, effectively reducing emissions to near-zero. And because of their battery propulsion, they are also expected to be exceptionally quiet, both onboard and underwater, a key consideration to protect marine wildlife.
The larger RAstar 4000 DF vessels will be the most powerful Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) escort tugs on Canada’s west coast and will rank among the world’s highest-performing escort tugs.
At 40 m in length and with over 95 mt of bollard pull, they will generate indirect forces of approximately 200 mt. ASD tugs are equipped with two stern engines capable of generating an all-directional propulsion force.
The RAstar 4000 DF escort tugs will perform the majority of their missions using natural gas as their primary fuel, delivering major emissions reductions compared to conventional diesel tugs. The escort tugs will also provide pollution response/oil spill recovery, fire-fighting of marine terminal fires, person overboard response, and emergency towage of vessels.
As a fleet, the tugs are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 10,000 mt/yr compared to diesel-powered alternatives, alongside major reductions of NOX, SOX, CO and particulates. And all of the tugs will be equipped with external fire-fighting equipment capable of delivering 2,400 m3/hr of water – enough to fill one Olympic-sized swimming pool every hour.