Electrification

Creating a sustainable maritime world

Zero emissions

A world changing for the better

Damen is teaming up with other leading players to work towards a more sustainable future. In this case, Damen has joined forces with Toshiba and Echandia Marine, a company pioneering maritime zero-emission systems.

At the forefront of sustainable shipping

Toshiba’s SCiB™ rechargeable battery is empowering organisations towards a cleaner future within the maritime sector and Echandia has quickly made a name for itself through its commitment to pioneering the electrification of maritime vessels since it was founded in 2013. Highly sustainable and offering excellent value from a lifetime cost of ownership perspective, SCiB™ uses lithium titanium oxide (LTO) in its anode to deliver safety, long life, low-temperature performance, and rapid charging. The 15,000 charge cycles provided by Toshiba’s SCiB™ batteries ensures confidence and peace of mind.

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Seven ferries for Copenhagen

Echandia’s lightweight, high-performance battery system uses Toshiba’s SCiB™ cells, thereby creating a safe, reliable, and cost-effective LTO battery system designed specifically for nautical purposes. Echandia’s specialised team has worked on 45 maritime battery installations globally. This includes a successful project with Damen in 2020 which saw us collaborate to build seven new ferries to operate in Copenhagen, each carrying 80 passengers.

Helping Ports of Auckland become emissions-free

A shared ethos to drive sustainable shipping, combined with the success of the Copenhagen project, led Damen back to Echandia when New Zealand’s Ports of Auckland placed an order for its first fully-electric tugboat. The Ports of Auckland handles nearly one million TEU every year and is aiming to be emissions-free by 2040.

Damen’s first fully electric tugboat

In order to achieve its goals, the Authority contacted Damen for assistance and this led to the aptly named ‘Sparky’, Damen’s first fully electric tugboat with a 70-tonne bollard pull. ‘Sparky’ is currently being built in Damen’s Vietnam shipyard and will soon sail to New Zealand.

Future focus

Great value TCO

With great value from a total cost of ownership (TCO) perspective, ‘Sparky’ will have a lifespan of 25 years, and is expected to save approximately 465 tonnes of CO2 in diesel emissions annually. There is also potential for additional tugboats to join ‘Sparky’, with Ports of Auckland looking to expand its electric tugboat fleet as it strives to meet its environmental objectives.

Pioneering green technologies

Damen very much looks forward to working with likeminded partners such as Toshiba and Echandia, given their passion to pioneer new technologies and drive a real transformation within the industry, and to playing a role in creating a greener, more sustainable maritime world.