Green Goat, meet the Green Dolphin. Another eco-friendly animal has joined the transportation equipment kingdom.

Late last month, Foss Maritime unveiled the world’s first hybrid tug at the Port of Long Beach. The Carolyn Dorothy is the first of a planned series of Green Dolphins — a Ford Prius-like reincarnation of the company’s Dolphin-class tugboats.

The assist vessel is designed to operate most of the time from an onboard array of batteries, with the two larger diesel engines kicking on only when the vessel needs full power.

Company officials say that most of the time, the carbon-fuel engines won’t be in use. They say tugs use full power only about 7 percent of the time and idle about 50 percent of the time. The company said last fall that the new arrangement is expected to reduce diesel particulate matter and nitrogen oxide by about 44 percent compared to other Dolphin-class tugs. The reduction in toxic emissions is even larger compared to older classes of tugboats that have less efficient engines. Carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide levels will also be reduced.

At a festive ribbon-cutting ceremony, Foss Vice President Dave Hill said the launch of the Carolyn Dorothy was “an exciting thing. The (emissions) numbers are better than expected.”

Foss President Gary Faber noted that in initial tests, the hybrid tug was able to perform as well as standard tugboats in vessel-assist operations. Testing is continuing at the port, but company officials said the boat would enter the tug pool at the San Pedro Bay ports soon.

The hybrid “for us is not the flavor of the month,” Faber said.

The Carolyn Doroothy is fueled by 126 rechargeable batteries.

Dozens of Foss employees dotted the crowd, proudly celebrating the company’s achievement. But they were joined by more than 100 others, including harbor commissioners from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Long Beach City Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal, and representatives from the governor’s office, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board. Even a sea lion that makes its home at Pier D popped up during the celebration.

Only the weather was unwelcoming, with gray skies, chilly breezes and rain dampening the atmosphere.

Mario Cordero, a Long Beach harbor commissioner, said the tug’s unveiling was a sign that, despite the slow economy and lower cargo volumes, progress on infrastructure and environmental projects would continue at the ports.

David Freeman, president of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, noted that in addition to receiving some public grants, Foss invested millions of its own funds in the development of the Green Dolphin.

“The governor and the Legislature can pass all the damn laws they want to, but without partnerships like this, nothing changes,” Freeman said.

The Port of Los Angeles gave Foss an $850,000 grant for the hybrid research, and the Port of Long Beach kicked in $500,000. The Carolyn Dorothy cost about $8 million for Foss to build at its Mount Rainier, Wash., shipyard — significantly more than the normal $5 million cost for a Dolphin-class tugboat. The Carolyn Dorothy also took longer to build — about 10 months, compared with an average of eight months for a standard diesel tugboat, according to Foss official Rick McKenna.

“We think any future hybrids could be built in about nine months,” he said. While there are no immediate plans to build more Green Dolphins, the company engineered the hybrid’s engine room so that already existing Dolphin-class tugs could be retrofitted with the battery-fuel combination.

From the outside, the Carolyn Dorothy looks like other Dolphins. But below deck, the engine room looks quite different. One wall is lined with 126 rechargeable gel-cell lead batteries. Two generator sets, used to convert the battery energy to usable power, sit in front of the battery bank. Two typical fuel engines — smaller than in other tugboats — are placed in front of the gen-sets. The battery power alone is sufficient to operate the vessel when it is idling or cruising the harbor, and the diesel engines would kick in only when the tugboat is actually assisting a larger vessel.

In addition to reducing polluting emissions, the company said the new technology will cut fuel costs.

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