The first-ever LNG tugboat in Korea is scheduled to be built in Incheon. 

According to the industry information, Korea Gas Shipping selected as the LNG tugboat operator is known to have signed a contract to build an LNG tugboat with DH Shipbuilding.  

The tugboat built by DH Shipbuilding is a 5000 hp ship and the IPA and MOF plan to support KRW 1.7 billion out of total cost KRW 9.1 billion. 

Major equipment of the ship is planned to be supplied by Korean companies. 

Hyundai Heavy Industries’ “Powerful Engine” will be installed instead of a Japanese engine, and the ship equipment manufacturer and mid-sized firm Donghwa Entec’s LNG fuel supply device will be installed. 

Lattice Technology and Doosan Infracore‘s LNG tank and generator will be applied. 

The IPA performed “Worn-out Tug Boat Shift Contest Project” in September last year to reduce the fine dust in Incheon Port, and selected Korea Gas Shipping that tugs ships entering/leaving the port in LNG, as the base of Korea Gas Corporation’s LNG Acceptance Base.  

A tugboat is a ship that safely pulls or pushes large ships entering/leaving a port, and it uses high horse power diesel engines to berth large ships and tow them from the dock; therefore a large amount of air pollutants is discharged. 

The IPA expects SOx and NOx will be reduced by 100% and 92%, each, if the tugboat’s fuel is shifted from diesel and bunker C oil to LNG. 

The IPA predicts a KRW 264 million fuel saving effect over 10 years if worn-out diesel is replaced with LNG. 

IPA also forecasts an employment creation effect of 73.5 people per LNG tugboat.