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Tidal Transit begins building six all-electric crew transfer vessels
A UK crew transfer vessel owner is following its success with the world’s first all-electric CTV with a significant newbuilding campaign
Tidal Transit has ordered two all-electric crew transfer vessels (CTVs) and has options for four more at a shipyard in Spain.
A pioneer in adopting green technology for vessels supporting offshore windfarms, it intends for these CTVs to be built with all-electric powertrains supported by energy storage systems, with generator sets as back-up and for range extension.
This follows Tidal Transit’s retrofit of its diesel-powered CTV Ginny Louise into a vessel able to operate fully on battery power, to be renamed e-Ginny.
Propulsion systems on these newbuild CTVs will depend on where they will be deployed, the availability of shore power and charging stations from offshore wind turbines, said Tidal Transit director Leo Hambro.
“Start-up and deployment depends on the client and site, but we are working on this newbuild project to reduce emissions going forward,” he told Riviera at the Seawork maritime exhibition in Southampton, UK.
“We are active in the transition of offshore energy into a fully circular industry with the use of electricity on CTVs. They will primarily use batteries and shore and offshore charging, but may need gensets and fuel for range extension,” he added.
“We are approaching the time for a rapid change of energy use for propulsion, with increasing yields and efficiency for windfarm operators to charge batteries and to power vessels.”
A Spanish shipyard will build these 28-m vessels with a beam of around 9 m, service speed of 27-28 knots and capacity to transport 24 passengers and 20 tonnes of cargo, including three containers if required, said Mr Hambro.
Their propulsion will each consist of a Volvo Penta IPS 900 series with 6 MWh of Corvus energy storage systems and two or four Volvo D8 variable-speed gensets “depending on their application and the site, and whether we can charge batteries from shore or offshore,” said Hambro.
“We developed the propulsion system from an off-the-shelf IPS platform that is already proven on CTVs,” he added. “These are modular vessels so we can add or remove gensets depending on their operating profile and charging opportunities.
Tidal Transit has secured equity financing from maritime and logistics investor HICO Investment Group to expand its fleet with six new electric CTVs.
It was hoping to present e-Ginny at Seawork this month, but delays in delivering the batteries have pushed its completion back to August or September 2025.
This 20-m CTV has Corvus 3.45-MWh capacity batteries and a quad Volvo IPS, which replaced the diesel-powered twin screw propulsion in a 2025 retrofit project.
The project is funded by Innovate UK and the UK Department of Transport, proving existing diesel CTVs can be converted to 100% electric power and recharged offshore.
Artemis is providing the onshore charging, while Volvo installed its first IPS 900 E drivetrain on this CTV and MJR Automation & Power will provide the offshore charging station, which will be soon deployed offshore in the UK.
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