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New electric tug fleet construction progresses in north-west US
Two battery electric tugs are nearing completion at a shipyard near Seattle to become part of a fleet of these vessels assisting container ships in Californian terminals
In Seattle, Washington-headquartered Snow & Co is building a series of battery-electric tugs for Curtin Maritime’s operations in the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles.
The hulls for the first two of these Arc-designed tugs, Tuuli C and Tiger C, have been launched and will be followed by another six of these vessels in the next 18 months.
According to Curtin, the deckhouse for Tuuli C was lowered onto the hull and the batteries and power cabinet, and two Schottel azimuth thrusters, were installed in September.
Curtin awarded a US$160M contract to Arc in Q3 2025 for delivery of eight hybrid-electric tugboats in 2026 to 2028, as one of the largest electric workboat initiatives in North America.
Snow & Co is building these tugs in 19 modules, each built separately, before being joined together, including the hull sections, battery room and deckhouse.
Arc is providing the 6-MWh battery package and battery management system to each of the eight tugboats, while their 3,000-kW propulsion will generate about 55 tons of bollard pull.
Curtin already operates Isla C, a purpose-built, fully-electric push boat, developed by Snow & Co in partnership with the owner to assist dredgers.
It is powered by twin permanent-magnet motors producing 746 kW of power, using energy drawn from the battery system.
Suderman & Young, Bay-Houston Towing and Signet Maritime were in the running to operate a battery-electric tugboat each in the Port of Corpus Christi.
In December 2024, the authority running the port secured a US$105M EPA grant through the Clean Ports Program to cover around 70% of the cost of a suite of battery-powered marine and shoreside assets. This included three new electric tugboats, eight forklifts and one sweeper truck, a shore-power retrofit package for an existing dock, the repowering of two locomotives to zero-emissions and seven charging stations.
Port of Corpus Christi Authority anticipated these assets would reduce NOx emissions by 186 tons, CO2 emissions by 650 tons and diesel fuel consumption by about 3M litres.
The port said the roughly 30% non-federal match will be shared by PCCA and the three sub-recipient tug owners/operators, and rail service provider Watco.
In December 2024, Suderman & Young chief commercial officer, Captain Jay Rivera, said its 30-m electric tug would have a beam of 13.5 m, battery capacity of 8,500 ekW and a bollard pull of more than 100 tonnes, providing it with the capability of assist VLCCs that call at the largest oil export port in the US.
Crowley’s eWolf, was the first battery-electric tug built in the US, and it entered commercial service to provide zero-emissions towage in the Port of San Diego in 2024.
It built was by Master Boat Builders in Coden, Alabama, to deliver 70 tonnes of bollard pull from a fully integrated electrical package and battery system.
This 25-m tugboat is supported by a new microgrid shoreside charging station in San Diego that enables eWolf to operate at full performance daily on electricity.
“eWolf is a historic milestone in the maritime industry and Crowley’s legacy. It underscores our company’s commitment to serve as global sustainability leaders and innovators,” said chairman and chief executive Tom Crowley in 2024.
“The all-electric tugboat is the most technologically advanced vessel of its kind and will help our customers and communities reach their decarbonisation goals.”
It has a Corvus Orca energy storage system rated at 6.2 MWh, and an ABB integrated electrical propulsion package to drive two 2,050-kW Schottel RudderPropellers of type SRP 430.
Connect with the international tug community at TUGTECHNOLOGY ‘27, the industry’s premier technical gathering, taking place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on 19-20 May 2027. Join tug owners, operators, builders, designers and technology providers for two days of industry insight, knowledge sharing and valuable networking. Find out more here.
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