BLRT Group subsidiary Western Baltic Engineering (WBE) has designed an electric-driven pusher tug to cut emissions along Europe’s inland waterways
The Lithuania-based ship designer has produced this concept as the European Union (EU) is pushing authorities to shift freight to inland waterways via low-emissions vessels.
It says this electric-powered pusher vessel will be built at the Western Shipyard in Klaipeda, Lithuania in 2023 for the Lithuanian Inland Waterways Authority.
This vessel, Electric Eel, is designed to replace diesel pushers, which presently dominate the market for pushing and handling non-propelled barges around Europe’s inland waterways.
The Lithuanian Government plans to use the 450-km stretch of waterway between Klaipeda on the Baltic Sea to Kaunas to switch cargo from the road network, in line with EU policy.
This design is pending class approval in principle from Bureau Veritas. The 26-m vessel will be powered by three DNV-approved energy storage systems with a combined weight of 74 tonnes. Batteries will be held in two containers on deck, which could be replaced using a crane in harbour, and one permanent battery will be below deck for charging at the quayside.
