Port tugs are essential for ensuring the safety and efficiency of port activities, including the maneuvering, mooring, and unmooring of large vessels, as well as providing support for fire protection and search and rescue operations. This study focuses on analyzing the Automatic Identification System (AIS) data of nine tugs at the port of Barcelona, Spain, from March 2023 to better understand their operations. AIS, originally used for vessel identification in maritime navigation, now supports various applications like environmental protection, vessel management, and safety surveillance. Using Jupyter Notebook, the study characterizes tug activities based on their AIS data, highlighting the status of tugs (underway, moored, or undefined) and addressing challenges such as missing data due to equipment issues, external conditions, and dense traffic. The insights gained aim to improve tug deployment, scheduling, and fleet operation evaluation.

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Check - Article - Characterizing the AIS data of port tugs in the port of Barcelona

Check - Article - Characterization of tugboats activity within Spanish ports

Port pollution comes from merchant ships and auxiliary vessels like pilotage vessels and port tugs, with emissions tied to engine operational modes. Traditional cubic speed-power methods for estimating emissions are inaccurate for port tugs operating at low speeds. This study validates empirical rules based on tug captains' experiences, using data from an in-port tug in Barcelona monitored over 40 maneuvers in April 2023. Results show that applying low load adjustment factors during slow-speed operations reduces estimation errors and emissions. Optimizing engine loads during tug operations can minimize port emissions, benefiting human health and the environment.

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The blue economy marketplace, organised by the Xarxa Marítima de Catalunya (BlueNetCat), is a meeting and exchange point for researchers, companies, investors and authorities. These BlueNet2Market presentations consists on sustainability, research and finances around the blue economy, also known as maritime related commerce. In addition to providing information about this environment, it also generates the opportunity to expand the social network and meet more people interested and involved in this sector.

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