VESSEL REVIEW | Havendienst 1 – Electric harbour and canal workboat for Netherlands' Haarlem municipality
The Municipality of Haarlem in the Netherlands began using a new harbour service vessel powered entirely by electricity after Talsma Shipyards of Franeker delivered it on March 6, 2026.
Havendienst 1 is used for inspection, enforcement, maintenance and light recovery work on the city's canals and harbors.
The design is courtesy of Vripack Design, with contributions by Sytse van de Vlas of De Vlas Yacht Consultancy. E-Ship handled the electrical system and overall system integration, MG Energy Systems supplied the batteries, and Current Motion supplied the azimuthing thrusters.
The principal dimensions were set by the operating area. Havendienst 1 has a length of 11 metres (36 feet), a beam of 4.1 metres (13 feet), and an air draught of approximately 1.7 metres (5.6 feet).
Design ideal for daily inner city use
Haarlem's inner city waterways are crossed by numerous low fixed bridges, and the builder said the low profile allowed the vessel to pass beneath them without waiting for openings or taking detours.
The beam gives a working platform wide enough for the deck crane and spud poles while remaining within the limits of narrow canal sections.
Propulsion delivering low noise and enhanced manoeuvrability
Propulsion is entirely electric. Two Engiro permanent magnet motors, each rated at 30 kW, drive two Current Motion CMA50 azimuthing thrusters mounted beneath the stern.
The thrusters rotate through 360 degrees, so thrust can be directed to any point of the horizontal plane. A bow thruster supplements the pods for low-speed positioning.
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.
