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Chinese shipyard orders battery electric tug design
One of the main builders of tugs in China for the south-east Asian market will construct all-electric tugs to an adapted design by a Canadian naval architect
Cheoy Lee Shipyards will start building battery powered tugs at its shipyard in China after purchasing an adapted design from Canadian naval architect Robert Allan Ltd.
The Hong Kong-headquartered shipbuilder will use Robert Allan’s AmpRA 2900-CL design to build electric-driven tugboats for assisting ships in harbours for owners and operators.
Cheoy Lee mostly builds for clients in south-east Asia and Latin America, especially PSA Marine and its affiliates, and is building a series of tugboats for Svitzer.
Robert Allan said its AmpRA 2900-CL tugs would have space for up to around 7 MWh of battery capacity and could achieve a bollard pull of 70 tonnes on batteries alone.
“These vessels will reduce fuel consumption, reduce maintenance, and help decarbonise harbour tug operations,” said the naval architect.
There is also space in the general arrangement for installation of two generators, which could run on biofuels or diesel, on board to extend operations and support delivery voyages.
“In daily service, the tugs will operate on battery power alone, but two generators will be installed to provide operators with maximum flexibility,” said Robert Allan.
Other Chinese shipyards are building battery-electric tugs using other Robert Allan AmpRA designs.
Shandong Port Group started building two fully electric tugboats for Rizhao Port in China in February 2026.
In October 2025, Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard started constructing a fully electric tugboat to support Tianjin Port’s drive to minimise emissions from ship towage, handling and dockings.
Cheoy Lee’s latest tugboat delivery was PSA Nebula in April 2026, built to a Robert Allan Z-Tech 6000 design with two azimuth thrusters on the stern, for PSA Marine’s operations in Singapore.
That was the final tugboat of a 16-vessel contract for Cheoy Lee, all built at its Hin Lee shipyard in Zhuhai, China.
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