HaiSea Marine becomes first to have ABS Underwater Noise Notation for a tugboat

The HaiSea Wamis, a fully electric tugboat owned by HaiSea Marine and operating in North Vancouver, British Columbia, is the first tugboat to obtain an Underwater Noise Notation from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).

ABS gave the HaiSea Wamis this notation for the tugboat’s exceptionally quiet design, which results in it generating only one-tenth of the underwater noise of a conventional diesel tug.

HaiSea Marine, which is majority owned by the Haisla Nation in partnership with Seaspan ULC, held sea trials last autumn to assess the new tugboat’s performance. The ABS notation reflects the design efforts by Robert Allan Ltd. The naval architecture firm and a Green Marine partner particularly focused on reducing noise and vibrations through the tugboat’s electric propulsion system.

The notation highlights the potential of battery-powered electric tugs to significantly reduce underwater noise within harbours.