First electric tug launched in South America

Vessel builder Sanmar Shipyards says the Robert Allan-designed ElectRA 2500SX is 25.4m long with a beam of 12.86m and installed battery capacity of 3,616kWh.

It has a bollard pull of at least 70 tonnes and a speed of 11 knots, Sanmar says.

“When developing the ElectRA Series with our partners Robert Allan and Corvus Energy, we were determined that the move to electricity should not come with any loss of power or performance,” said Rüçhan Çıvgın, commercial director of Sanmar Shipyards.

The tug brings the number of electric ones built by Sanmar to eight, Çıvgın said, with the rest of them operating in North America and Europe.

The first electric tug in Europe has now been operating in Norway for Buksér og Berging since April 2024.

“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,” said Çıvgın. “We are also working with our partners to design and build tugs that use other alternative fuels. These are exciting times for our industry.”