Sparky wins International Tug and Salvage Tug of the Year

Auckland-based electric tug Sparky is the winner of the International Tug and Salvage (ITS) Tug of the Year award.

Sparky is the first full-sized ship handling electric tug in the world, and owner Ports of Auckland says it’s thrilled to see the industry recognise such an innovative and sustainable vessel as Tug of the Year.

The result of a six-year collaboration between Ports of Auckland and Damen Shipyards – which took on the project in 2016, Sparky has eight battery racks holding 2240 batteries totalling 2784kWh of power.

“This award recognises all the hard work from the team at Ports of Auckland and Damen to bring Sparky to life, and we are looking forward to seeing the rest of the industry follow her lead,” says POAL marine and multi cargo operations general manager Allan D’Souza.

 Sparky is expected to do up to four shipping moves on a charge, recharging in about two hours, saving about 465 tonnes of CO2 annually in avoiding diesel emissions.

It costs less than a third of diesel tug to run and Sparky also has two 1000kW back-up generator sets for emergency use only.