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One Damen electric tug en route, another for sale
Dutch shipbuilder Damen has an electric-powered tugboat for sale and another sailing to the Middle East to commence zero-emissions towage
Damen Shipyards is offering a battery-electric tugboat for sale after a deal with an unnamed port authority fell through.
Aqua Pollux, an electric-powered reverse stern drive (RSD) tugboat, is currently demonstrating its services in the UK and is available to purchase to enable harbours and owners to offer zero-emissions towage.
This was built to Damen’s RSD Tug 2513-E design and classed by Bureau Veritas, with an overall length of around 25 m, a beam of 13 m and a draught of around 6 m.
It is currently in Southampton for the Seawork maritime exhibition, making it the first electric-powered tugboat working in the UK, albeit temporarily. It has been operating in the Benelux countries since its arrival in November 2024, where a port authority had provisionally booked it.
But according to Damen sales manager for Benelux, Joost van der Weiden, Aqua Pollux is now being operated by a Damen crew and is available for purchase.
He told Riviera there has been interest in northern Europe, but there are challenges finding charging stations for battery-powered tugs, which means Aqua Pollux uses its onboard Caterpillar gensets to charge its batteries, such as in Southampton. There is also interest in this electric tugboat from a Middle Eastern owner.
Mr van der Weiden said another RSD 2513-E tug, Bu Tinah 2, is “around half-way to the UAE from Vietnam” where it was built.
This is the second battery-electric tugboat Abu Dhabi Ports subsidiary Noatum Maritime acquired from Damen to operate in Khalifa Port.
It is the sister tug to Bu Tinah, which broke the Guinness World Record as the most powerful electric tugboat in the world in Q4 2024 during its sea trials, having achieved an average high-peak bollard pull of 78 tonnes and also works in Khalifa’s container terminal.
Damen’s first RSD-E 2513 tugboat Sparky has been operating in Auckland, New Zealand for three years and Volta 1 is operating in Antwerp, Belgium. Damen has built another of this series of electric RSD tugs in Vietnam this year, and according to a broker report this is Aqua Nestor with the same credentials as the others.
Damen is on a role in building these battery electric tugboats and finding buyers for them.
The 28th International Tug & Salvage Convention, Exhibition & Awards will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, 19-21 May 2026. Use this link for more details of this industry event and the associated social and networking opportunities.
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