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Caterpillar drives tugboat propulsion innovation
In another sponsor profile, counting down to the International Tug & Salvage Convention, Exhibition & Awards 2024, we spoke with engine builder Caterpillar
Caterpillar Marine segment manager for tugs Andres Perez speaks to Riviera Maritime Media about the company’s successful 2023 and its plans for innovation and services in 2024, as the port and towage sectors collaborate to reduce the industry’s environmental footprint.
“In 2023, we experienced strong demand for our products as the industry delivered its highest output in the last eight years in terms of tugs built with high-speed engines,” he says.
“We doubled down on close planning with our customers to ensure we got ahead of any potential constraints. Between demand planning and capacity growth in our factories, we look forward to improving our delivery performance towards our customers.”
In terms of product innovation, Caterpillar delivered the first set of its new Cat 3516E uprated engines to power Robert Allan Ltd-designed RAstar 2800 tugs for Svitzer Australia. The tugs were also equipped with Schottel’s Sydrive-M system.
The improvement to the renowned 3516E engine delivers 19% more power to 3 MW and a much higher low-speed torque, making it an ideal fit for mechanical hybrid systems on tugs.
“As part of our journey toward fuel flexibility, we teamed-up with Svitzer to test 100% biofuel operations, demonstrating the operation and reliability of the engines while identifying risk areas and maintenance practices to mitigate them,” says Mr Perez.
Caterpillar also made progress on its methanol dual-fuel engine development programme in collaboration with Damen Shipyards and signed a memorandum of understanding with Svitzer to support the tug owner’s climate-related goals by addressing methanol as a fuel in tugs.
Service and support
“We continue strengthening our portfolio of services built on the foundation of our global network of Cat dealers that support tugs in every corner of the world,” says Mr Perez.
“Evidence of this is our global value agreement (GVA) with SAAM Towage, delivering greater efficiency and cutting downtime across more than 200 engines.
“2023 was an eventful year for us, not only in terms of supporting customers in getting the lowest total cost of ownership in their existing fleets, but also in being part of the equation as the industry transitions to a lower carbon future.”
Caterpillar continues working on methanol dual-fuel engine developments in 2024 and is committed to developing solutions for the future. “We continue to invest in solutions for today, tomorrow, and the future,” says Mr Perez.
“In terms of solutions for today, we are focused on strengthening our Global Cat Dealer network and helping customers achieve the lowest total cost of ownership.”
Its key services include customer value agreements (CVAs) and GVAs to get the most value from their investments.
“We are also investing in electrification solutions specifically tailored to tugs to play a key role in helping our customer with their energy transition,” says Mr Perez.
“We are working closely with designers, shipyards and owners on pragmatic ways to build energy efficiency and fuel flexibility into the DNA of tugs, with the engineroom being a key piece.”
Fuel flexibility
Caterpillar offers its clients options to build vessels that operate on diesel, biofuels, methanol, or a combination of these, with fuel flexibility built into its 3500E engines.
“We will enable them to adopt their fuel of choice based on their desired target, fuel availability, and economics at play without having to build a new vessel or incur prohibitively expensive retrofits,” says Mr Perez, adding owners could convert these engines to methanol dual fuel in the future.
However, there are several challenges for the industry to achieve IMO’s climate-related goals across shipping in 2050 and replace diesel with alternatives, especially for tug owners, as assets have longer operational lives than the merchant ships they assist.
Mr Perez emphasises the importance of the energy transition and finding pragmatic ways to address technology, infrastructure and financing to determine the future of the global tug industry. “These are sources of uncertainty when it comes to investment decisions” because every alternative fuel will be more costly than diesel today.
“We are in a conundrum of having to act without having the technology, infrastructure and financing pointing decision makers in one clear direction,” he says.
“Therefore, we strongly believe giving owners the ability to future-proof assets will benefit them and eventually propel the industry to an accelerated technology adoption. Finding pragmatic ways to address those aspects will determine the future of the global tug industry. Caterpillar will play an important role in the technology space,” says Mr Perez.
Convention sponsorship
Caterpillar Marine is the main sponsor of Riviera Maritime Media’s International Tug & Salvage (ITS) Convention, Exhibition & Awards, held 21 -23 May, in Dubai.
The company sponsored the convention because it supports bringing the tug and salvage community together, engaging with industry peers to share experiences and best practices, and to explore opportunities. “ITS is a key event for us, as it brings the entire tug and salvage community together,” says Mr Perez. “We strongly believe collaboration and exchanging in an open forum is key to moving the industry forward. The conference programme is designed to do just that.”
At the conference, Caterpillar will host an exhibition stand in collaboration with two key dealers, Al-Bahar and Borusan, and will showcase an energy transition display to discuss technologies that can support tug owners on their journeys to reach climate-related goals.
“We will have a global team attend the conference, spanning functions from engineering to sales, strategy and senior leadership. We look forward to engaging with our industry peers,” says Mr Perez.
Caterpillar will also present the following two papers and participate in a panel debate: Caterpillar global marine technology steward Marinus Jansen on Day 1: Pathways to carbon reduction in towage and Andres Perez on Day 3: Navigating the Energy Transition via Asset Flexibility and panel discussion III: Concluding discussion and drawing conclusions: Making sense of the transition pathways for tug owners globally through to 2050.
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