Innovation Winter 2025/26

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“The marine industry in BC has very much jumped in the lead when it comes to decarbonization,” said Mike Phillips, P.Eng., a project director and Senior Naval Architect for RAL. Organizations seeking to meet ambitious Canadian carbon-reduction benchmarks are increasingly looking to decarbonize different levels of the supply chain as a way to reduce indirect emissions. That has meant investments in developing low-carbon tugboats for companies like Teck Resources and LNG Canada, who have introduced electric tugboats to BC’s shorelines through RAL’s designs. In Canada, ships operating in domestic waters release roughly eight-million tonnes of CO 2 annually, and harbour tugs make up a visible share of that footprint. “Tugs are small, but they’re working all the time,” said Allan Turner, P. Eng., a project director at RAL. “They don’t go far, but they’re constantly on and off the throttle, moving ships around. That’s why their energy use is actually very high for the size of the vessel.” For a region powered by hydroelectricity, the path forward was clear. “In BC, you’ve got cheap, clean

power and short routes,” said Phillips. “You can actually make electric tugs practical here. It works, operationally and financially.” From hybrid to fully electric designs Founded nearly a century ago, RAL has designed thousands of tugboats that operate in ports around the world. Its first step forward came two decades ago with the Carolyn Dorothy, a hybrid tugboat launched in California that remains in service today. Through pilot projects and smaller initiatives, throughout the 2010s, companies like RAL experimented with different small scale battery projects. The first fully electric training tug, delivered in 2010, had just over three tonnes of bollard pull, or towing ability. By the end of the decade, RAL’s engineers recognized that battery technology had evolved enough to increase battery towing abilities by an order of magnitude. In 2019, LNG Canada’s tugboat service provider, HaiSea Marine, approached Robert Allan for a conversation about developing full-scale low-carbon tugs, with a required bollard pull closer to 60 tonnes. “We originally thought we’d do a 50–50 hybrid,” recalled Phillips. “Then we realized the entire operational profile could be met with batteries alone. That’s how the first battery-electric tug was born.” Earlier generations of hybrid tugs had relied on bulky lead-acid batteries, whose low energy density limited range and power. But as lithium-ion batteries transformed electric vehicles and grid storage, their marine counterparts rapidly followed suit. New chemistries and modular designs offered the energy density, cycle life, and safety features needed for demanding marine operations. ” In BC, you’ve got cheap, clean power and short routes. You can actually make electric tugs practical here. It works, operationally and financially. Mike Phillips, P.Eng. Senior Naval Architect Robert Allan Ltd.

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Winter 2025/26

Innovation