VESSEL REVIEW | Havendienst 1 – Electric harbour and canal workboat for Netherlands' Haarlem municipality

Energy storage consists of two 48V battery banks, each with a capacity of 93 kWh, for a total installed capacity of 186 kWh. The project partners said the electric drivetrain was well suited to the stop-and-go duty cycle typical of harbour service work, where the vessel spends much of its time idling, holding station or moving short distances between tasks.

Outfitted for debris removal and navigation aids handling

Deck equipment centers on a crane rated to lift 1,000 kg and a set of spud poles. The crane gives the vessel the ability to recover sunken bicycles, debris, small craft and other obstructions from the canals, as well as to handle buoys, signage and maintenance materials.

Spud poles allow the vessel to be pinned to the canal bed while the crane is working or while crew carry out inspection or maintenance on quay walls and bridges, removing the need to hold position under power or to moor to structures.

The absence of exhaust emissions and the low noise of the electric drive were cited by the builder and partners as central to the project. The municipality's requirement for a zero-emission vessel is in line with wider Dutch efforts to move urban waterway operations away from combustion engines.