The integration stack
AYK's batteries sit inside a wider Kongsberg Maritime package. Kongsberg is supplying the full electrical and automation architecture of the tugs: DC and AC switchboards, permanent magnet propulsion motors, its K-Chief control system and the shore charging equipment.
That last item matters. A fully electric tug has no diesel generator to fall back on. Its working day depends on how much energy it can take on between jobs, and that energy comes from the berth. Placing the charging equipment in the same integrator scope as propulsion and control treats the tug and its charging point as one system.
From India Maritime Week to the battery order
Svitzer and Cochin Shipyard signed the newbuilding agreement in December 2025, formalising a letter of intent agreed at India Maritime Week two months earlier. Svitzer framed the order around its global fleet renewal and its commitment to building in India, with an eye on future deployment at Indian ports and terminals.
The battery award is the next link in that chain. It also extends a working relationship between AYK and Svitzer that now spans more than a decade.
A relationship built on retrofits and records
AYK founder Chris Kruger first worked with Svitzer in 2012, overseeing the battery design for four diesel electric hybrid tugs built for the LNG terminal on Barrow Island, Western Australia. Svitzer Euro, Svitzer Perentie, Svitzer Boodie and Svitzer Dugong were among the first hybrid tugs of their kind. In 2025 AYK returned to the same four vessels and installed new Aries LFP systems totalling more than 5 MWh.
Earlier this year AYK supplied a 6 MWh AriesA system for Svitzer Balder, built by Uzmar in Türkiye for service at the Port of Gothenburg. The battery methanol escort tug is designed to carry out more than 90% of its towing and docking work on battery power, with methanol engines providing backup and range.
The chemistry argument
AYK builds its systems around lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells and says it was the first manufacturer to secure class approval for an LFP marine battery. Its case against nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) is about fire risk at sea. As Kruger put it in the company's announcement, "If a vessel suffers battery failure you cannot simply step out onto the road."
The company says operators and integrators want more energy density and more power with no compromise on safety. LFP has long been seen as the safer but heavier option. AYK's position is that the gap has closed enough for the chemistry to carry high power workboats at scale. Its systems are produced at an automated plant in Zhuhai, China, which opened in 2023.
What it means for ports
Tugs are a natural early market for full electrification. They work in short, predictable cycles close to base and return to the same berth again and again. That profile suits batteries. It also places a new and concentrated load on the port grid.
A fleet of electric tugs needs high power charging at its home berth, sized for quick turnaround between jobs. That demand arrives alongside onshore power supply for visiting ships, electrified cranes and terminal equipment. For port authorities, the question is no longer only whether to supply shore power to ships. It is how to plan grid capacity, connection points and possibly local storage for the harbour's own working fleet.
The Barrow Island renewal adds a second lesson. Batteries are a lifecycle asset. Operators who ordered hybrid tugs in the early 2010s are now replacing their storage, and the economics of electric towage depend as much on replacement planning as on the original build.
Why it matters to DTF
Battery storage and the shift from shore power to integrated port energy systems were central themes at DTF 2026 in Valletta, where the Maritime Battery Forum was among the event's partners. Orders like this one show where that conversation is heading: into the specification of the vessels themselves and the berths that serve them.
Four tugs on order in Cochin. Four more on option. The real test will be measured at the charging point.
