NEWS/EVENTS
News Articles
January 24, 2009
Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach Welcome the World’s First Hybrid Tugboat
Carolyn Dorothy, the world’s first diesel-electric hybrid tugboat, took her first dip in the Port of Long Beach on January 23, 2009.
The environmentally-friendly, green-and-white tug will replace a traditional tug in assisting huge freight ships in and out of the harbor. The Carolyn Dorothy, however, operates with a 44 percent reduction in some pollutants.
“The world’s first hybrid tug is exactly the type of technology-advancing project that will help the Port of Long Beach achieve its clean-air goals,” said Richard D. Steinke, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach.
"Tugs are the backbone of ports worldwide, and the hybrid tug Foss will produce is a first in the industry," said Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D., executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. The $8 million vessel was custom-built by Foss Maritime of Seattle, Washington.
In an effort to develop less polluting technology for harbor craft operations within the Los Angeles/Long Beach port harbors, the Port of Los Angeles, in association with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, contributed $850,000 to co-fund the Carolyn Dorothy. This funding grew from the Technology Advancement Program of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan.
The Port of Long Beach was one of Foss’ two funding partners and contributed $500,000 for the tug’s development. Foss first proposed the hybrid tug in March 2007.
The biggest benefit of the hybrid tug boat is its reduced fuel use when idling in harbor. Tug boats spend nearly 50 percent of their fuel for idling while docked. Instead of idling the main engines while in standby mode, the hybrid tug will run on battery power with the main engines shut down.
The hybrid tug will substantially reduce all emissions (nitrogen oxide, particulate emissions, sulphur dioxide and carbon emissions) and exceed the EPA's Tier 2 emissions requirement for marine engines. It is also more fuel efficient and quieter than today's modern tug boats.
"Because the air emissions reductions are absolutely extraordinary, this is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that our port encourages and welcomes in line with the San Pedro Bay Clean Air Action Plan," Knatz added.
The hybrid tug design minimizes fuel consumption by using a power management system to match the required power to the most efficient combination of batteries, generators and main engines for a particular task.
The Foss tug will undergo six months of tests and evaluation of its operational and environmental performance. After that, the tug will be operated in both ports for the next five years.