In order to enhance the efficiency of port operations, ensure port safety and improve port water traffic supervision, a semantic model of tugboat behavior in port waters is proposed. This model includes a tugboat navigation behavior semantic recognition model and a tugboat assistance behavior semantic recognition model. The semantic model of tugboat behavior is established by analyzing the behavior characteristics of port tugboats in terms of time, space, semantics, motion characteristics, and association characteristics. This includes constructing an object model, constructing a tugboat behavior relationship model, and modeling tugboat behavior semantics. Based on the established semantic model of tugboat behavior, corresponding recognition algorithms are designed. The recognition algorithm designed based on the semantic model of tugboats is verified by using Shenzhen Yantian Port as the experimental water. The results show that the semantic model of tug behavior in the port area can effectively identify tug navigation behavior and tug assistance behavior, which greatly improves port operation efficiency and supervision efficiency. Overall, the proposed semantic model of tugboat behavior in port waters is a significant step towards improving port safety and efficiency. It provides a comprehensive and reliable method of analyzing tugboat behavior, which can help identify potential problems early and implement solutions promptly.