A Busy Eight Months for EU's First Electric Tug

BB ELECTRA, the first fully electric powered tugboat to operate in Europe, has been extremely busy since arriving in Norway on April 8, 2024, to start working for environmentally-friendly operator Buksér og Berging.

Built by Sanmar Shipyards in Turkiye to the exclusive to Sanmar ElectRA 2200SX design from Canadian naval architects Robert Allan Ltd, this game-changing tug has already completed 81 towage operations during 835 running hours.

Part of a project unveiled in 2021, a total of seven ElectRA Series tugs are now in operation in Europe and North America, with each-and-every one of them playing a major role in our industry’s important contribution to reducing emissions of both greenhouse gasses and other airborne emissions.

An eighth ElectRA tug that will become the first to operate in Latin America was recently launched by Sanmar in Turkiye.

The ground-breaking battery electric-powered ElectRA Series of harbour tugs is the first of a new generation of  tugboats from Sanmar and are available in a range of sizes (19-28m) and power outputs (40-85 TBP).

BB ELECTRA has 1.718 kWh of battery power and can achieve a bollard pull ahead of 45 tons and a speed of 11.8 knots. Based in the Port of Oslo, it has an overall length of 22.2m excluding fenders, moulded breadth of 10.84m and least moulded depth of 4.4m.

With accommodation for a crew of three, BB ELECTRA is Buksér og Berging’s first eco-friendly electric-powered tug, but the operator already has a well-deserved reputation for being environmentally-aware, with previous deliveries from Sanmar including the Tier lll emissions compliant sister escort tugs BAMSE and BOB, and BORGOY and BOKN, the world’s first two purely LNG-fuelled tugboats.

Rüçhan Çıvgın, Commercial Director of Sanmar Shipyards, said: “We are proud to be leading the way. We have seen our electric tugboats become the first to operate in North America, Latin America, and Europe. We are also working with our partners to design and build tugs that use other alternative fuels. These are exciting times for our industry.”

Sanmar has taken a strategic decision to research, develop and build tugs utilizing alternative fuels and innovative technological advances to protect the environment and build a sustainable tug and towing industry.