Sanmar Shipyards, is leading the way with the wave of emerging maritime technologies assisted by developing clear visibility on client requirements; with expectations to grow its portfolio of low and zero emission tugs by up to 50% in the upcoming period. Gary Dockerty, Sanmar’s Sales Director - Middle East and Africa (MEA) discusses Sanmar’s focus towards consolidating its position at the forefront of emerging technologies by building the new generation of low carbon energy tugboats.
As Sales Director based in Dubai and handling the market in the region, what is your perspective towards the Middle East market?
Recently, there has been a growing appetite from owners and operators in the region for fleet expansion and replacement driven by current regulatory requirements, in addition to the desire to reduce their carbon footprint, greenhouse gases and other emissions. One of the paths that we decided to pursue several years ago was to offer a design portfolio of full battery electric zero-emission tugs.
Whilst still awaiting orders from the MEA region, albeit we have experienced a host of enquiries, the outcome of this decision has nonetheless been rewarding with 7 deliveries this year; the first one to Haisea Marine for operations in Canada taking place during this exhibition. The regional market is promising in the medium term, both for battery electric technology and other low carbon and low emission technologies but the need for integrated shore based infrastructure is important to support the emerging technologies in these marine applications before we will see an acceleration in inquiries and uptake.
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With the new technologies and challenges, how do you see the awareness of the ship owners and buyers?
Buyers and ship owners are becoming increasingly more aware of the technologies available and the way they may contribute to their net zero ambitions. That said, dialogue is ongoing and events like Seatrade Maritime Logistics provide an ideal opportunity to continue those discussions with our customers, respond to inquiries and share the growing body of knowledge regarding new cleaner energy solutions and their potential applications.
The maritime industry is witnessing increasing interest from the client base in these cleaner technologies year on year. Our current pipeline contains a majority of Tier III and Tier III ready tugs and 25% of our current production is either LNG alternate fuel or full battery electric zero emissions. We are in the process of delivering 34 tugs this year, of which around 50% are either zero emission or lower emission technology. Our expectations are that this number will rise further over the next 5 years against the background of customers striving to meet the targets set by the IMO GHG Strategy with the milestone date in 2030 approaching.
Electric tugs are part of the fleet replacement strategy for some clients. However, and speaking of some of the challenges, the regulations are not the only voice of authority that drives the process, just as much pressure for change comes from other sources, such as national and local authorities, port authorities and the lenders financing these acquisitions for example.
How do you summarize the first half of 2023? And expectations for the next half?
Sanmar has experienced a very strong start to the year as far as deliveries are concerned and an equally strong trend with respect to new orders and inquiries. Likewise, we are fully contracted for the 2nd half of the year and are naturally looking ahead to 2024/25. Clients remain ambitious with their future acquisition plans, that’s why we see a lot of new projects, expansions, upgrades, especially in the region at present.
So there is a whole raft of new tenders out there, a desire for prompt deliveries, and what we are trying to do is provide our clients with reasonable delivery times against the background of continued pressures in the supply chain. With good visibility on the clients’ requirements, we try to minimise lead times and respond effectively to their requirements. As far as we can see, the appetite will remain and develop into the foreseeable future.
Sanmar is always keen to have in person meetings with clients in exhibitions and conferences, so what can you tell us about Seatrade Exhibition?
Seatrade has been a successful exhibition, very busy for us as we had a lot of good inquires. It is always good to be here to meet old clients and new ones; there are always new clients and new opportunities in the market.
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What is next for Sanmar?
Sanmar is determined to consolidate its position in the wave of new and emerging technologies, be an important and active participant in the low carbon energy future, in addition to being a leader in innovation; through building our knowledge base and investing in R&D in areas that can contribute not only to our sustainability, but more importantly to the continued sustainability of our customers’ future.
We are keeping an eye on the alternative fuels as they develop and will no doubt enter that space as soon as practicable as technology and customer demand dictates. We were the world’s first builders of LNG fuelled tugs back in 2014, in cooperation with Bugser og Berging and Rolls-Royce Marine.
We are currently the world’s leading builder of battery electric tugs, with seven (7) ElectRA series battery electric tugs due for delivery before the close of 2023 together with two (2) further speculative ElectRA series in our main construction plan for delivery before the end of 2024. Plus, we are once again building LNG fuelled tugs, specifically two (2) 40 metre RAstar Class tugs - this time for Haisea Marine for operations in Kitimat Bay, British Columbia for LNG Canada due delivery Q3 2023.
Robban Assafina Magazine, Issue 85, May/ June 2023, MAritime Events, Robban Assafina Feature - Seatrade 2023, pg. 81
