Damen Shipyards, Echandia Marine Form Partnership

Damen Shipyards and Echandia announced they have cemented a global partnership, combining Echandia’s DNV-Certified E-LTO energy systems and battery expertise and Damen’s tugboat experience.

The first project will be a fully-electric ship-handling tug – said to be the first of its kind in the world – to service New Zealand’s largest container and international trade terminal – the Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL). With this port managing over half of New Zealand’s imports and exports, as well as servicing hundreds of thousands of cruise ship voyagers each year this is an important project for Echandia to undertake.

The RSD-E Tug 2513 will be a zero-emissions derivation of the IMO Tier 3-ready RSD Tug 2513, introduced by Damen in 2018.

Echandia’s E-LTO energy storage system (ESS) is a scalable air-cooled modular design system based on Toshiba LTO cells. The 2.8 MWh ESS is specifically optimized for the RSD-E Tug application and will be type-certified by world-leading testing and certification organization, Bureau Veritas.

The Echandia-Damen partnership brings together sophisticated battery technology and deep skills in the shipyard industry with technology strategy and development to bring the next generation of electric tugboats to the global market.

“The Damen-Echandia partnership is a powerful one. Damen’s understanding of and experience with the global tugboat market, combined with Echandia’s deep engineering and energy system expertise will result in a whole new market for electric tugboats and speed up the development of world-leading solutions,” said Echandia’s CEO, Magnus Eriksson. “With over 30 shipyards and related companies worldwide, Damen has a global presence that will allow us to drive far more business impact for our end-users.”

Echandia has developed one of the world’s most advanced heavy-duty LTO battery systems, supplying zero-emission energy to the maritime and rail markets. Echandia’s proprietary, lightweight battery racks and system architecture are based on the latest technology and specifically designed for the maritime industry.

Echandia is Toshiba’s preferred maritime module integrator.