Hybrid propulsion tug delivered to Svitzer Australia, BHP

Svitzer and BHP are expecting the arrival of a new tugboat fitted with mechanical hybrid propulsion in Australia after its completion at a Turkish shipyard.

Med Marine built Iron Dove to its MED-A2800 series at the Eregli Shipyard in northern Turkey to Robert Allan Ltd’s RAstar 2800 design as build number ER159.

This 28-m tugboat left the shipyard and completed sea trials, then left Turkey in March to travel to Australia, where it will support escort, towage, manoeuvring and docking of large bulk carriers at BHP’s facilities in Port Hedland.

According to automatic identification system data, Iron Dove was in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands at the end of March and heading towards South Africa on its delivery voyage.

It has a beam of 13 m and around 80 tonnes of bollard pull, which comes from two Caterpillar-manufactured Cat 3516E main engines, each developing 2,350 kW of power at 1,800 rpm, and two Schottel SRP 490 rudder-propellers. This tug also has a FiFi1 off-ship fire-fighting system for emergency response in Australia.

What sets this apart from other tugs built in Turkey is its hybrid propulsion system, which enables both azimuth thrusters to be powered by just one of the two engines.

Med Marine said Iron Dove is the first tug produced in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region to feature mechanical hybrid propulsion. The builder said Schottel SY-Drive sets “a new benchmark in tugboat innovation”.

Med Marine also said this vessel is fitted with sensors to provide real-time data on the condition of onboard equipment. This data is processed on board and sent over the internet to shore for monitoring.