Inland shipping is continuing to move forward in the race to
launch the first hydrogen-powered vessels. A European project announced that it
will deploy the world’s first commercial cargo transport vessel operating on
hydrogen, sailing in Paris along the Seine river in 2021.
The vessel, which will be a pallet shuttle barge measuring
164 feet in length, will operate on compressed hydrogen produced from
electrolysis, enabling according to the project organizers not only
zero-emission operations, but also creating a solid base for more local
zero-emission transport, both at sea and on land. The power generation system
for the Zulu vessel will be supplied by ABB Marine & Ports, with fuel cells
from Ballard. LMG Marin is responsible for the detail design drawings, with
hydrogen provided by suppliers in the Paris region.
“Green and sustainable shipping is a prerequisite for
reaching national and international emission reduction targets. Ships powered
by renewable hydrogen will make a substantial contribution to reducing
emissions from shipping and improving air quality in cities and other densely
populated areas,” says Flagships Project Coordinator Jyrki Mikkola from VTT
Technical Research Centre of Finland.
The vessel is being developed as part of the Flagships project
,which is a consortium of 12 European partners in the shipping industry. The
Flagships project was awarded EUR 5 million of funding in 2018 from the EU’s
Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020, under the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen
Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), to deploy two hydrogen vessels in France and
Norway. The project’s initial plan was to deploy a hydrogen push-boat in the
Lyon area, but as the broader potential for hydrogen in cargo transport
emerged, the demo pusher was changed to an inland cargo vessel.
The partnership is working with the French inland shipowner
Compagnie Fluviale de Transport (CFT), a subsidiary of the Sogestran Group,
which will own and operate the vessel. Sogetran’s Blue Line Logistics was the
first company to deploy the pallet shuttle barge concept with vessels known as
Zulu in 2014 in Belgium and in France. The group is successfully operating
three Zulu vessels and has two additional vessels under construction.
“As we move through the energy transition, hydrogen
technologies are gaining traction in the maritime sector. Flagships is a very
exciting project for us since it is leading the way to demonstrate how vessels
operating on green hydrogen can decarbonize urban rivers. By translating
technological innovations into commercial operations we can make zero-emissions
inland vessels a reality in every European city!,” says Bart Biebuyck,
Executive Director at FCH JU.