Redwise had the honor to deliver the first full electric ASD tug on behalf of HaiSea Marine, a partnership of the Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC, a long-standing customer of Redwise. The tug, named HaiSea Wamis, is a first of many. Not alone due to its’ unique electric propulsion, it is the first in a series of five for HaiSea Marine: three electric-hybrid and two dual fuel escort tugs – to service LNG carriers at the LNG Canada’s new export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia. The Robert Allen ElectRA 2800 design vessel built by SANMAR shipyard arrived well in time to be presented at the LNG 2023 convention at Vancouver.
The electric harbour tug measures 28,4 meters in length and boasts a remarkable battery capacity of 6.102 kWh, providing a bollard pull of 70 tonnes. The battery features enable the HaiSea Wamis to accomplish all its operations solely on battery power. For the deliver voyage a combination of the battery power and generator power has been used in a hybrid mode to ensure sufficient range. At the HaiSea Marine facility, the harbour tug can easily recharge from dedicated shore charging facilities situated at its berth in Kitimat in-between jobs. The tug will operate with zero emissions, contributing to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly maritime industry and terminal operation.
The pressure was on for this delivery voyage since the HaiSea Wamis was asked to show her feathers at the LNG 2023 conference in Vancouver taking place 10-13 July. This was a race against the clock, where Redwise and its global network of partners were truly tested on efficiency. After pit-stops in Ceuta, Tenerife and Martinique where every racing team would be jealous of, the vessel arrived at the Panama Canal for her transit. The vessel was inspected by the authorities and got the go ahead. The last intermediate stop in Long Beach was again a quick one for bunkers. Finally, after a 56 day voyage and covering more than 10.800 nm, the vessel safely arrived in Vancouver, Canada. A big thank you to all parties involved to make sure the vessel has arrived in time, the support of the builders and equipment providers.
Redwise is extremely proud to contribute to the collaborative efforts of the towage industry to move towards sustainable and environmental friendly towing operations. After delivering the first LNG powered ferry “F.A. Gauthier” already in 2015 and having extensive experience with delivering in excess of twenty battery-hybrid and LNG dual-fuel ferries worldwide over the past eight years, Redwise feels honored to use their vast knowledge and experience now in the towage industry. After the delivery of the first dual fuel hydrogen powered tug “Hydrotug 1”, the delivery of the first ElectRA 2800 is another major milestone for Redwise.
An extra nice touch to this voyage is that while Redwise delivers all kind of vessels, the voyage of the HaiSea Wamis coincided with having five complete Redwise crews on five delivery voyages of five new build tugs from the biggest tug building yards. That five tugs are delivered simultaneously under own power is in itself not exceptional, it is the first time though that each of them was built at one of the five major building yards, with a 6th crewed and built by the 6th of the major tug building shipyards, or factories as some are better known to be. In alphabetical order: “Al Mirfa“ built at DAMEN, “HaiSea Wamis” built at SANMAR, Kambarage” built at CHEOY LEE Shipyards, “Motagua”, built at MED MARINE and the “Svitzer Elizabeth” built at UZMAR with as icing on the cake the “Hydrotug 1” built at ARMON, manned by Redwise during extended commissioning works of the Hydrogen systems.
