NAVTEK's new target is zero-emission ports

NAVTEK Naval Technologies INC. is a company that we are proud of both on behalf of our industry and our country. NAVTEK, which brought the zero-emission tugboat, called ZEETUG, to the world's maritime industry with the knowledge and the experience gained from the 1970s to the present, was deemed worthy of three awards worldwide in the last three years with this project. In the interview we had General Manager of the company, Ferhat Acuner, we talked about the work they carried out, and on the other hand, we discussed the direction of the world's maritime business. Saying that they are nearing the end of the zero-emission port project at the moment, Acuner says, “We predict that the world will take much earlier and much more stringent measures regarding emissions than previously thought.”

Noting that they have been working in the sector for about eight years as NAVTEK Deniz Teknolojisi A.Ş, Ferhat Acuner gave the following information about ZEETUG tugboats, which have been the focus of attention in the sector recently: “As a company, we focused on two things. The first was military projects. We have designed LST (landing Ship Tank) class ships, the flagship of the Turkish Naval Forces, which had been built by ADIK Shipyard in the Tuzla Shipyard Region and now in operation, LCM (Landing Craft Mechanized) class ships, which are under the scope of TCG Anadolu, the flagship of the Turkish Naval Forces, which are under construction at Sedef Shipyard in the Tuzla Shipyard Region and will serve within the main ship. After that, we became the main design subcontractor of the PN Milgem class corvette ships, which are being built for the Pakistan Navy by ASFAT A.Ş, a company of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Turkey, which is the biggest defense industry export of our country.”

“We have nearly 250 completed commercial ship projects since 1999. Our experience in the industry goes back to the 1970s. Secondly, in the last year, we have focused on environmentally sensitive, innovative, and world-renowned projects. We have been quite successful in this regard. In this process, we also started to build these ambitious ships that we designed. Finally, we opened a boatyard in Tuzla in partnership with GISAŞ. We continue the construction of the electric tugboats there, which we call ZEETUG,” he said.

Our first project runs successfully

Stating that they have successfully implemented their first project by delivering the ZEETUG30 with a bollard pull power of 30 tons to GİSAŞ in 2019, Acuner said, “It was very successful. It has been working for 730-odd days. It performs beyond our expectations. Then we put three more tugboats on the slipway. Two more 30's and one 45'. We have already prepared about 10 prototypes ranging from 5 tons to 80 tons of Bollard Pull. We made the calculations and preliminary designs. We created a scale that we can start production within two months when the order is placed. Since these are tugboats, the important point here is the Bollard Pull power. Of course, when we say 60 tons of Bollard Pull, the work does not end there. We also receive any specific requests, such as firefighting and escort features or working with a certain number of crew. These are all included in the configuration. But the main feature is that this is a harbor tug, it will serve as a tow, which is determined by the tonnage. We are already an engineering firm. If the customer comes to us and says he wants 28,3 tons, we will design it as well. These are things that we can quickly go into production, like a car model," he said.

We received very positive feedback from the world.

Saying that the reflection of this project in the world was very good, Acuner said, “We have been doing very aggressive marketing in all world markets since we started this project, launching it and running it with GİSAŞ. For this reason, we participate in conferences, trade exhibitions, seminars, and every channel where we can express ourselves in many places. At first, we were making an effort to participate, but now we are constantly invited. That's a nice thing too. It attracted a lot of attention in terms of technological development. Our articles on this subject have been published in many publications in various countries of the world. In 2021, our first ZEETUG GİSAŞ POWER was chosen as the tugboat of the year at the International Tug and Salvage conference. We did not apply to any of these. As of 2022, the number of awards we received was three. In 2020, we received the Green Apple award as a Gold Winner in the field of Environmental Best Practice Engineering & Manufacturing. We couldn't go and get our award because of the pandemic. It was in 2021 that the award reached us. They deemed us worthy of following us and giving this award. Companies that receive this award become Green Ambassadors. This year, we were chosen as the Green Ambassador. In March 2022, we received the Engineering & Manufacturing Gold Winner award as part of the Green World Awards in Dubai.”

The world is in panic over emissions

Acuner, who said that the whole world is in a small-scale panic for now, but will soon become larger-scale, continued as follows: “Because environmental pollution has taken very serious dimensions. We think about whether there was global warming or not because we are not very aware of it due to the climate zone in which our country is located. In the summer, we saw 30 degrees, maybe 40 degrees. These are very high temperatures for our country, but we are not aware of them. However, northern countries are in a particularly serious panic. They are very aware. In Oslo, the temperatures have been seeing 30 degrees for 2-3 years. They say that these temperatures have never happened in our lives; They say that the rivers are drying up, and the groundwater has decreased. Now, most of these countries are countries with very high GDPs and they are forcing the whole world to take environmental measures. Our zero-emission ship coincided with exactly such a period. Such a project was perhaps just a dream for today's conditions and it would be one day in the future. But we did it. It is necessary to follow the technology closely and we do this. In 2017, we realized that lithium-ion battery technology makes a difference compared to the past. In other words, we can build ships that can provide a certain cruising order. When we were talking about what could be done, we thought that the harbor tug was suitable for this job. It was very successful. You charge it like cars, it has no emissions, no noise, no vibration, you do your operation and it's pretty powerful. Electric motors also have some advantages, such as producing torque more quickly and continuously than diesel engines. GISAŞ is very pleased with the addition of the world's first electric tugboat to its fleet. Now they are converting their entire fleet to electric. GISAŞ has five tugboats. By the end of 2022, four of them will be electrified. This is a very ambitious decision. GISAŞ wouldn't have done it if they were not happy with the result.”

The new goal is to extend cruise times.

Noting that their new goal is to extend the cruising time, Acuner continued his words as follows: “We want to switch from harbor tugboats to ferries or passenger boats that can make a slightly longer voyage. We intend to go a little further from there. Because a different process started here. We follow these developments all over the world. For example, an environmental foundation established under the leadership of Maersk has included something I explained at a conference last year into its R&D program. That is, they will install solar-powered charging stations on the shipping routes in the open sea. Very large floating offshore systems. At that conference, I said that giant companies should do this. I explained that it should be a very large group that can serve a large number of ships. Such developments prove our prediction that there is a future for fully zero-emission ships. Very exciting. Battery technology is also developing very fast. Since we started this business, the capacity of the battery used for the same volume and weight has increased one and a half times. Its price has also dropped by about 30 percent. These are very serious indicators. For example, in 5-6 years, maybe a ship will easily travel from here to the Greek coast with one charge, charge at the charging station there, and then go to Italy from there. It will be able to go to the Baltic Sea on three charges. We also have R&D studies in this regard”

The only moving part on board is the electric motor

Reminding that there are some basic points in ship management, Acuner says, “An average shipowner thinks that way: If I have a good chief engineer and he takes care of the engine, I will not have any problems. The owner is right to think so. But in reality, the nature of the work is changing rapidly, it is now turning towards completely computer-controlled structures that you can control remotely. It even goes towards a structure where rotating parts such as an internal combustion engine are very reduced. For example, our tugboat currently has only one electric motor. There are no other moving parts. There are batteries, there are cables, there are drive systems, and there are electronic boards. Of course, there is a very serious software and computer system. The electric motor provides the propulsion. What we call a propulsion engine is one of its cheapest parts. The cost is so cheap, but in reality, the work ends in the software. For example, if there is a malfunction in our computer, our hands are tied. Systems stop. After-sales service is now completely turning into a network service. The ships we sell are also connected to us online. We produced, and sold, so there is no such thing as out of our responsibility anymore. We are following all the time. When there is a problem, we see it immediately. It doesn't matter where the ship is in the world. The main thing is to find the company that will repair it when a ship breaks down in any country. We are constantly making new deals. For example, we will give one of these tugboats to a Dubai-based company in the coming days. That's why we make agreements with the companies there on maintenance and repair. We provide training. In the event of a malfunction, we send the trained personnel of the contracted company to the ship and have it repaired. Everything on ships is now electronic. The business is slowly getting to be like the automotive industry. After-sales network is very important to us. That's why we conduct sales negotiations in 28 different countries around the world, and we also conduct research for after-sales services in every country where we make sale negotiations."

We may increase our capacity when needed

Acuner said, “Besides the projects, we have done for GİSAŞ, we will start 4-6 new constructions abroad in 2022. Negotiations are currently ongoing. Currently, the annual capacity of our ZEETUG factory is seven tugboats, not exceeding 45-50 tons Bollard Pull each. I hope we will fill that capacity for this year. If we get more orders, we will invest. We foresee that the world will take much more stringent measures on emissions sooner than previously thought. Because the situation is really bad and the pollution levels are very high. The maritime industry is the most sensitive and quickest to act on environmental issues. 20 percent of the pollution in the world's seas originates from ships. But the control of ships over emissions has reached 90 percent, but the opposite is true on land. There are ships that are very sensitive to the environment on the near horizon of all ship design, shipbuilding, and even operating companies. There is a need to reduce the emission figures of the ships, preferably to zero emissions. There is a need to study zero-emission ship investments

Stating that the average age of a tugboat is between 22-and 27 years at the time of operation, Acuner said, “The average age in the world is above 18. This means that within the next four years, nearly every tugboat in the world will need to be replaced. The number of tugboats and similar work vessels over 150 gross tonnage in Turkey is 327. There are 190 countries in the world. If you multiply by one hundred, there are 30 thousand tugboats. I can say very clearly that they need to be renewed in 5-7 years. Those who will make those renovation investments should forget about options such as internal combustion engines. I'm not talking about reduction. I'm serious because that's not the way it is. Very soon they will demand 0 emissions for in-port operations at all ports in Europe. It is already mandatory in some ports. This situation is moving very fast. There will be no postponing. Therefore, I recommend that investors who will invest in any kind of ship should examine the issue of Green Shipping Investments. We did research on the financing of these ships and published a book in English. If you are going to invest in a green ship, the book clearly states what advantages, financial opportunities, kind of grants there are, and what the European Union's 10-year plan is. They will do the financial calculations in the same way, but they have to find a green solution to this. Because the maritime industry will be under a lot of pressure and many companies in the world are working on this issue, like our company. Very large shipbuilding companies are completely focused there. They are investing millions of Euros for research and development,”

The next 10 years will be the designers' decade

Saying that life does not change much for shipyards in terms of zero-emission shipbuilding, Acuner said, “Because if there is a design, the electric motor comes instead of diesel engine. The shipyard attaches this engine to the ship it has built and continues its work. The next 10 years will be the decade of designers. I say this assertively. The real work will be on the companies that engineer and design such zero-emission ships. The engineering part is very important because technology is new, integration is new, and not many people know. The margin of error is small because the investor wants his investment to be secure. There are many uncertainties at the moment. The foremost uncertainty is, for example, which energy source will be the main source of energy in the next five years? We said not to use fossil fuels, but what will be used? Battery, hydrogen, LNG, etc. It's very confusing because nobody can project. The uncertainty here puts a lot of pressure on the investor. This is the main topic of the industry in the world right now. The indecision here will be resolved the sooner engineering companies like us put such successful and proven projects on the table.”

We do R&D with the effort spent to get support

Talking about R&D studies and his staff, Ferhat Acuner said, “We have been doing R&D on this subject for eight years. I called it commercial R&D. Because we do not receive any support from anywhere. We are doing the R&D itself with the effort spent to get support. We have a staff of about 80 people. Nearly 45 of them are engineers or engineers with a doctorate. We have technicians, we have an administrative group, and we have a production group. We have another group of 11 people working at the shipyard. We also have an R&D unit among our units. We have some studies on projects that can benefit from international, especially European Union funds."

A port with zero emissions and generating its own energy

Acuner said, “We also have a port decarbonization R&D project that we are working on and we are very close to the result. This is very important because we always see maritime as building and operating ships, but in fact, more than one-third of maritime business is port management. Currently, we have two separate customers that we are negotiating. Looks like we'll be contracting at least one of them. The issue we're discussing is about the de facto full electrification of a port. Conversion of cranes, forklifts, trucks, and other vehicles with internal combustion engines into electricity. Building infrastructures to charge them. Replacing tugs operating in that port with ZEETUGs. We are planning a port that produces its energy using the sun and wind and maybe in the future, waves, is self-sufficient with its energy storage systems, can even sell electricity back to the system when necessary, but does not receive any electricity from the system and the electricity it generates from renewable sources is completely zero-emission.

We will also work with ports

In addition, we will go to Barbados, the Caribbean Islands, in February. The government of Barbados asked us for such a study. We did the preliminary work, they liked it very much. We're going to talk about things like the budget. There is a possibility of getting support from the European Union for these. We can turn a port into a green port with all its infrastructure in 24 months. We see that this will be a trend in the coming years. We also have negotiations with very large ports. But those ports are so big that it is not easy for them to make a decision. Based on ZEETUG, we have ship projects that produce zero or very little emissions and use renewable energy sources. We are even working on a cargo ship. At the point we have reached in R&D, we were able to save 52 percent of fuel on the ship. Maybe we can start the construction of this ship in the second half of 2022. It seems that NAVTEK will continue on its way through completely environmentally friendly and innovative projects and our staff will grow even more.”